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Upgrading your computer to accomodate new technology or new hardware can be done in a variety of ways, but I want to focus on the 3 most common and easiest to do by a non-technical user.

Too Little Memory

If you’re experiencing a slow down of your computer with regards to opening and closing programs, you may be undersupplied on random access memory or RAM. Having too little computer memory is one of the most common problems with today’s memory-hogging applications, but it’s one of the least expensive issues to solve.

You can’t just run out and by RAM. You will need to first determine what kind of RAM your unit needs and then determine if you can add more to it. Go to Start/Control Panel/System.  A window showing your operating system and how much memory you currently have is shown along with other information about your machine.

The next step is to either refer to your documentation or go to the website of the manufacturer of your computer to find out how much memory and what type your unit holds. My laptop is a Toshiba A215 and uses DDR2-5200 memory. It will only hold a maximum of 4 GB, so I’m at the maximum for this laptop, so can’t add more.

Purchase the correct type and number of sticks of memory, open your case and the memory is easily replaced by snapping out the old and snapping in the new.

Too Little Hard Drive Space

The next issue we encounter is where you have no more room to save files. You can and should archive files to portable media such as an external hard drive or DVD/CD. Email boxes are notorious for having too many saved emails in them especially ones with large attachments. Be sure to periodically go through your email box to delete those messages that you don’t need any longer.

Adding a new hard drive is fairly easy though. Most of the newer computers are using SATA drives so you need to find out what kind of drives your computer will accept. Older units used IDE drives and those are fairly cheap. The SATA drives are a bit more expensive.

Maintenance To Keep Your Computer Running Effortlessly

There are some rather simple maintenance tasks that you should run monthly that will help keep your computer running smoothly. Defragmenting your hard drive is one of those tasks and while the built in defragmenter works OK, there are 3rd party ones that work better and don’t keep you from doing other tasks while they work.

I use IOBit Smart Defrag – it’s a free and very weightless utility.

Cleaning your computer of temporary files is another way to keep it running smoothly. CCleaner is another free utility that works very well at keeping your computer free of unnecessary files.

If you’re having issues with your computer running slowly, have checked it for spyware and viruses then these other tips may get you back running smoothly and quickly in a hurry.

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