How to know how much "computer memory" is on your PC?

It's easy to find out just how much memory your computer has.

• Find the My Computer/Computer icon (on your desktop or in the Start Menu List.
• Hover your mouse over the My Computer (in Windows 98, XP or Vista) or Computer (in Windows 7)
• When the function menu appears, left click on Properties. 
• The details of your computer will now appear, including Operating System, Hardware manufacturer, the memory (RAM-Random Access Memory) and other helpful details. 

Most of us agree that the quickest and most effective way to improve the overall performance of computers is to increase the amount of memory it has... But you can't install just any memory, it has to be compatible so if you aren't sure - check with a technician you trust, and/or go to the website for your computers manufacturer and look up what is needed when you put in your computers model number.

A few things you and or your technician need to know before purchasing additional memory for your computer; all of which you can learn all of this from your manufacturer's website.... 

• Know your motherboard - What type is it? How many pins are on it (30, 72 or 168)? and how many open RAM slots are available on your motherboard?
• If your computer is still under warranty - Check with your hardware manufacturer before you install new hardware to ensure to make sure your warranty will not be revoked if you remove the cover from your computer.
• Know if the RAM on your computer is parity or non-parity
• Know if your computer uses single (SIMM's) or dual (DIMM's) memory modules.

Defragging?? How & Why

Defragging (defragmentation) your computer will speed it up and improve the computers performance. What defragging does is it reorganizes and optimizes the way that all the data is stored on your computers hard disk.. For Windows Vista users, the operating system is configured by default to automatically initiate the defragmentation program once a week

How to Defrag a Computer
For those of you with Windows XP, here are the two ways you can “defrag” your computer..

Defrag #1
The most common way to defrag is to:

• Click on 'Start' at the bottom left of your computer screen
• Go to Programs, then go to 'Accessories', then choose 'System Tools' folder
• When you open this you will see 'Disk Defragmenter' on the list of programs in the 'System Tools' .
• You can select a specific drive, such as “C” for your hard drive –then click on “Analyze” and it will tell you if that drive needs to be defragged.. Click on “Defragment” and it will start – time can range from a few minutes to a few hours – let it work and it’s better not to be running other programs while it is doing this…so, it was…
  
  Start ~ Programs ~ Accessories ~ System Tools ~ Disk Defragmenter
  
  In this application windows, select a drive (for example C:\) and then click on 'Analyze' to find out whether that drive requires defragmentation or not. The graphical report that is displayed will give you an idea about the amount of existing fragmentation on that drive. Clicking on 'Defragment' will start the defragmentation process. This process can take a considerable amount of time (ranging from a few minutes to a couple of hours). For efficacy purposes, it is strongly recommended that you do not simultaneously execute any other applications or programs in the background, during the time that the drive is being defragmented.

Defrag #2
Another way I use quite often is much shorter…

• Click on Start, then click on Run.
• Type the words "cmd" and hit Enter. This opens a command prompt window.
• Now type the words 'defrag', followed by a space, and the name of the drive that you wish to defragment, followed by a colon. For example, if you want to defragment drive C:\, you will have to type defrag c: and hit Enter and it will automatically begin the defragmentation process