How
To Increase Your Computer RAM
Virtual memory, also known as the swap file, uses part of
your hard drive to effectively expand your RAM, allowing you to run more
programs than it could otherwise handle. But a hard drive is much slower than
RAM, so it can really hurt performance. (I discuss SSDs below.)
Your PC has storage, a hard drive or SSDand memory in the
form of RAM chips. RAM is faster than storage, and you have much less of it.
It’s also more volatile: Shut off the power, and everything in RAM disappears.
You can think of RAM as the immediate workspace, and storage as the file
cabinet. When you save a file, you’re copying it from RAM to storage.
When there’s no room in RAM for that program or file you’re
trying to load, virtual memory kicks in. Some of the code and data in RAM goes
to the swap file, making room to load something else.
If Windows keeps telling you that your virtual memory is too
low, you can either buy more RAM or expand the swap file. One will cost you
money, but the other will slow down your PC.
Here’s How To Change The Virtual Memory Settings
1. Go to
the Start menu’s Search field or Windows 8’s Search charm and type system.
Select System under Control Panel.
2. Click advanced
system settings in the left pane.
3. In the
resulting System Properties dialog box’s advanced tab, click the
first Settings button—the one in the Performance box.
4. In the
resulting Performance Options dialog box, click the Advancedtab.
5. In the
Virtual memory box, click the Change button.
6. In the
resulting Virtual Memory dialog box, uncheck automatically manage
paging file size for all drives. Then select a drive and change settings
for that drive.
Windows lets you set up swap files in different drives,
although by default only C: has one. It doesn’t really make a difference. If
you create multiple swap files, they’ll behave like one big one.
Speed isn’t the only problem with virtual memory. Sensitive
data that you keep encrypted may reside, unencrypted, in the swap file. Your
average run-of-the-mill crook probably wouldn’t bother looking for it there,
but the police or the NSA will.
The performance problem is lessened considerably if you put
the swap file on an SSD rather than a hard drive. But there’s a problem: SSDs
wear out with too much writing, so putting a swap file on one might shorten its
life.
If all you have is an SSD, you may want to disable virtual
memory entirely. You can do this in the Virtual Memory dialog box by selecting
the drive it’s on, clicking No paging file, then clicking Set.
However, doing this could limit the size and number of
programs you can run at one time. You might try it, and then turn virtual
memory back on after you find the lack of it too restrictive.
How To Increase RAM In Windows
Vista
First, determine how much memory (RAM) you have installed on
your system. To find out how much memory (RAM) you have installed on your
system:
·
Click Start, then click Control Panel
·
Double-click System and Maintenance, then click System.
·
In the left hand menu, click Advanced system settings.
If you are prompted for an administrator password, type the password.
·
Click the Advanced tab.
·
Under Performance, click Settings.
·
Click the Advanced tab.
·
Under Virtual memory, click Change.
·
Uncheck the "Automatically manage paging file size for
all drives" check box.
·
Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains
the paging file you want to change.
·
Click Customize size.
·
Change the Initial Size and Maximum size text boxes (these
sizes are in megabytes).
·
Click Set, then click OK.
Note : Increasing the size of virtual memory size does not
usually require a restart in Windows Vista. If you decrease the size, restart
the computer for the changes to take effect. Deleting or disabling the paging
file is not recommended.
How To Increase RAM In Windows
XP
First, determine how much memory (RAM) you have installed on
your system. To find out how much memory (RAM) you have installed on your
system, right-click My Computer, then click properties. The amount of
RAM will be displayed at the bottom under the General tab.
Increase the Virtual memory size
·
Open My Computer.
·
Click View system information in the left hand side
of the My Computer window.
·
The System Properties window will be displayed.
·
Click the Advanced tab. Under performance, click Settings.
The Performance Options dialog box will be displayed.
·
Under the Performance Options dialog box, click the Advanced
tab.
·
Under the Virtual memory section, click Change. The
Virtual Memory dialog box will be displayed.
·
In the Virtual Memory dialog box, change the Initial Size
and Maximum size text boxes (these sizes are in megabytes).
·
Click Set, then click OK. A message will appear
stating that you will need to restart your computer. Click OK.
·
Click OK.
·
You will be asked if you want to restart your computer,
click Yes.
How To Increase RAM In windows 7
First, determine how much memory (RAM) you have installed on
your system. To find out how much memory (RAM) you have installed on your
system, right-click Computer, and then click properties.
Note :The amount of RAM will be displayed at the bottom
under the System.
·
Click Start button, right-click Computer, and
then click Properties.
·
In the left pane, click Advanced system settings.
·
On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings.
·
Click the Advanced tab, and then, under Virtual
memory, click Change.
·
Clear the Automatically manage paging file size for all
drives check box.
·
Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains
the paging file you want to change.
·
Click Custom size, type a new size in megabytes in
the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, click Set, and then
click OK.
Using A USB Drive As RAM
- Your flash drive or hard drive should plug into one of your computer's USB slots. On a laptop, USB slots are generally on the sides of the laptop's housing.
- On a desktop, you'll usually find USB slots in the front or back of the CPU box, or on a peripheral such as the keyboard
- Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
Select your USB drive.
- Click the name of the USB drive that you attached. It will usually have an "F:" designation if it's the only external storage attached.
- It's a tab in the upper-left side of the window. A toolbar will appear just below the Computer tab.
This
white box with a red checkmark on it is on the far-left side of the toolbar.
The flash drive's Properties window will open.
Click the ready boot tab.
It's at the top of the Properties
window.
- You'll see this in the middle of the page. Doing so will allow Windows to use the maximum space available on your flash drive for RAM.
- You won't be able to use more than your computer's maximum RAM capacity.
- You may have to wait a few seconds for ReadyBoost to display the flash drive's information.
- These are both at the bottom of the window. Doing so will save your settings and apply the USB drive's free space to RAM usage.
- Once you unplug the USB drive, you'll need to go back into the ReadyBoost menu to set it up as RAM if you decide to use it as RAM again.
So There You Are With All You Need To Increase RAM
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