Russ wrote:
>am I likely to see a noticeable improvement if I move up to 1.5 GB RAM?>>


That depends entirely on what you are doing and what's running at any one time.

You'll probably see a bigger difference by removing all the background junk 
that usually comes with brand-name computers.

Run Msconfig/startup (or use a good startup manager) and take out 
everything you don't really need running all the time.

Run Task Manager and see what's taking up CPU and memory.

Some antivirus and security suites can slow performance drastically, and 
adding RAM won't usually make any difference.

Likewise, Services should be trimmed to cut out anything you don't need.

On this computer, for example, I found that uninstalling AVG and Zone Alarm 
Pro, and replacing them with Avira and the standard XP firewall made a big 
difference to performance. That doesn't mean that either of those programs 
is bad---it's just that particular combination with the rest of the stuff I 
have running that seemed to make a difference.

The minimum RAM recommended for Vista is 1Gb if you turn off Aero visual 
effects, or 2Gb if you have everything enabled. So you may be a little 
light for running some activities. For just internet browsing and emailing, 
you should be fine.

And be selective in choosing which software to run.

Don Penlington


 From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
Computer tutorials, local scenery,  and other things at my website:
http://users.tpg.com.au/deepend/index1.html

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