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When you first turn on your new computer, it seems to be lightning fast. However, it does not take long before you realize that it is slowing down. You scratch your head as you wonder what causes the lack of speed, and more importantly, what steps you can take to get that speed back.

One of the most frequent causes of a computer slow down is the lack of physical memory (RAM), combined with too many other applications trying to squeeze into the little bit of RAM available. As RAM is one of the fastest components in a computer, accessing information that is currently "in RAM" is quick and convenient. Unfortunately, RAM is also one of the more expensive components inside your computer and many price conscious computer buyers purchase computers that have only the minimum required RAM installed.

Lack of RAM causes your computer to slow because RAM is where the computer temporarily stores information while doing its processing. Imagine if you are taking notes in a classroom, and the only paper available is a stack of post-it size notepads. There is only so much information that you can put on each piece of paper, and so you find yourself constantly switching between sheets of paper trying to keep your notes organized. Now think about how much easier it would be if it was legal-sized paper.

RAM works the same way. As memory gets full, your computer has to find more temporary storage space (just like getting a clean piece of paper). Computers do this by moving information from RAM onto the much slower but larger hard disk drive. This frees up space in RAM, but because the hard drive is slower, it takes your computer longer to access and process the information and thus, your computer slows down significantly.

When you first turned on your computer, it seemed very quick. However, as you install the applications and games that you want to use, you probably also install little 'applets' from the software maker designed to help that particular application load faster, make it easier to access, or to keep it up-to-date with software patches. These applets are called 'memory resident' software. As the name implies, these applets take up space in RAM. As more software is installed, more of these applets are also installed, leaving less space in memory for other applications.

There are two solutions to this problem:

(1) Increase the amount of installed RAM; or

(2) Reduce the number of running applets.

If you choose the option to increase the amount of RAM, you must consider both the

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