additional memory

[Guest]

My son downloads alot of music w/Windows Media Player; how do I get rid of the stuff he's downloaded once he's burned it? Will that renew the memory? I'm a "classic computer idiot" so I hope I do'nt sound too ridiculous......

 

[Shenan Stanley]

My son downloads alot of music w/Windows Media Player; how do I get
rid of the stuff he's downloaded once he's burned it? Will that
renew the memory? I'm a "classic computer idiot" so I hope I do'nt
sound too ridiculous......

Delete it.
Highlight it - use that key on your keyboard labeled DEL or DELETE and if
you want to PERMANENTLY delete the file - SHIFT+DELETE. Otherise - empty
your recycle bin.

 

[Jym]

Find the music files location on the hard drive and delete them . This will
increase hard drive space , not memory. Jym

My son downloads alot of music w/Windows Media Player; how do I get rid of

the stuff he's downloaded once he's burned it? Will that renew the memory?
I'm a "classic computer idiot" so I hope I do'nt sound too ridiculous......

 

[Guest]

ok, in layman's terms, what's the difference between "hard drive space" & "memory"...be kind... I'm still learning..........Jayne

 

[Shenan Stanley]

ok, in layman's terms, what's the difference between "hard drive
space" & "memory"...be kind... I'm still learning..........Jayne

Simple Terms.. okay.

Computer memory is what your computer uses ACTIVELY. It is lost when your
power is lost. It is short-time storage, used when you are doing anything
on your computer.. It is the NOW of the computer - everything you see and
are using currently on the screen is using memory (also known as RAM -
Random Access Memory.)

Hard Drive Space is long term storage. If the power goes away, the data is
still there, awaiting you to give it power and access it again. It is where
your files (word documents, etc) are stored and where your operating system
is stored before/during/after it is loaded into memory for you to use.

 

[lvee]

That was a great answer, thanks. I've always been a bit confused about the
differences, and thanks to Never too old for asking.

 

[lvee]

Hey, I have another question about that, sorry this is going off topic, but,
does adding more RAM speed up things like how fast pages load, or general
performance?

 

[D.Currie]

Hey, I have another question about that, sorry this is going off topic, but,
does adding more RAM speed up things like how fast pages load, or general
performance?

If you don't have enough memory, adding more will give you a significant
performance boost. If you have enough, adding more does nothing.

 

[Ron Martell]

Hey, I have another question about that, sorry this is going off topic, but,
does adding more RAM speed up things like how fast pages load, or general
performance?

Adding more memory can noticeably improve performance only if the
added memory results in reduced usage of the virtual memory paging
file. Therefore if the paging file is not currently being used to any
significant extent then adding more memory will not provide a
significant improvement.

Unfortunately there is no ready way of determing actual paging file
usage provided with Windows XP - it does not have an equivalent to the
'Memory Manager - Swap File In Use" reporting provided by the System
Monitor utility in Windows 95/98/Me.

There is a free utility that you can download and run which will
provide this information for you. It was written by MVP Bill James and
you can get if from
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm or from
http://billsway.com/notes_public/WinXP_Tweaks/

If that utility shows actual page file usage of 50 mb or more on a
regular basis then that is indicative of fairly significant paging
file activity. Adding more RAM will reduce or even eliminate entirely
this activity thereby improving performance.

This apples regardless of how much or how little RAM is currently
installed in the computer, at least up to the 4 gb RAM maximum for
Windows XP.

Hope this is the information you were looking for.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[lvee]

Thank you for that very informative and complete answer. I'm going to take
a look at the link you posted a bit later tonight. Thanks again to all who
answered, you have been most helpful and understanding.

 

[lvee]

okay, this is what I have..it would seem to indicate that more RAM would be
warrented.
Pagefile Physical Location: C:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage: 64 MB
Session Peak Usage: 65 MB
Current Pagefile Size: 192 MB

 

[Ron Martell]

okay, this is what I have..it would seem to indicate that more RAM would be
warrented.
Pagefile Physical Location: C:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage: 64 MB
Session Peak Usage: 65 MB
Current Pagefile Size: 192 MB

It indicates that a RAM upgrade would be of some benefit, and as you
move to newer (and therefore inevitably larger) versions of
application programs this pagefile usage is almost certain to
increase.

Don't expect a quantum leap in overall performance if you add more
RAM, but there will be some benefit.

My computer, with 512 mb of RAM, is running at around the same level
of actual page file usage as you report, and I am debating the
advisability of adding more RAM. I probably will, as I am
contemplating adding some new software to this machine in a few
months.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[lvee]

Thanks!

It indicates that a RAM upgrade would be of some benefit, and as you
move to newer (and therefore inevitably larger) versions of
application programs this pagefile usage is almost certain to
increase.

Don't expect a quantum leap in overall performance if you add more
RAM, but there will be some benefit.

My computer, with 512 mb of RAM, is running at around the same level
of actual page file usage as you report, and I am debating the
advisability of adding more RAM. I probably will, as I am
contemplating adding some new software to this machine in a few
months.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."