An extra GB of RAM under the hood is helpful for one reason above all else:
more physical RAM means less usage of virtual memory. When you have a
limited amount of physical RAM and you try to run more programs than it can
hold, some of them must be stored temporarily on the hard disk in a
pagefile. Every time your system either reads a page from physical RAM to
this virtual memory file, or writes a page from the hard drive back to RAM,
that takes time to do, since the pagefile on the hard disk, even with a very
fast hard drive, is still many times slower to read and write then a RAM
chip. Reducing paging with more physical RAM is a proven remedy to a slow
computer. Another idea to pursue would be to limit the number of programs
that load on startup. Fewer running programs take up less space in RAM and
further reduce the need for paging. Take a look at when your computer slows
down and what programs are running. There is a possibility that one of those
programs may be causing the slowdown, simply by demanding a lot of system
resources like RAM and CPU time. Graphically intensive programs like games,
CAD, Photoshop, and several other types are especially hard on system
resources. The previous poster did have a good idea in checking out your
hard drive specs. A faster RPM drive with a bigger cache will outperform a
slower drive. That will improve system performance simply because the
computer has to wait less for a faster drive to read and write data. Same
goes for your CD-ROM drive. You also may want to limit the number of USB
devices you have attached to your computer at one time. The computer has to
do a certain amount of time just checking USB for connected devices and
seeing if any of them need attention. That process is called polling, and
it's a lot slower when you have a lot of USB devices connected. Yet another
idea to spead your system up might be to upgrade to a dedicated video card
if you are still using onboard graphics. Onboard video typically shares
memory space with the operating system within the main RAM, and that alone
slows your system down by stealing RAM from programs. A dedicated video card
has its own RAM chips to use for drawing the screen, and the RAM in a
graphics card is specialized for the task, making it faster. I know this is
a lot of information to take in all at once. Feel free to ask me to clarify
any of this for you if you're stuck.

Kenneth Whyman
[log in to unmask]
"Chance favors the prepared mind."

On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 11:43 AM, Ron Kaplan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I am running xp Pro on a PC with an Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.53GHz, with a CPU
> speed of 2523MHz, and 1G of RAM. My hard drive is 300G and is still mostly
> free space. I use Zone Labs Security Suite, with anti-virus scanning daily.
> Spyware Doctor runs upon bootup, I regularly use Spybot Search & Destroy and
> AdAware for spyware, CC cleaner for "tuneups", and Auslogics for disk and
> reg. defrag. Still, though, my PC can be terribly slow too much of the time.
> More often than not, when it's slow, the Task Manager shows 100% CPU usage.
> Nevertheless, I'm wondering if adding 1G of RAM could help. A computer savvy
> friend says that with my CPU, more RAM will not help. The service dept. at 2
> Fry's stores said that was not true. Any educated guesses as to how good the
> chances are that an extra G of RAM would help my PC's speed? Thanks very
> much in advance for any assistance.
>
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