What's the difference between "RAM" and your hard disk?
Many have some confusions on this topic, but the answer is pretty easy. Your hard disk is like your paper filing cabinet. You keep stuff there, and grab just the file or files you need. When done, you return them to the filing cabinet. On your computer, this means all the documents, photos, music, videos you have. Having a lot of files of any sort on your computer won't slow it down, unless you are actually running out of storage space on the disk.
RAM, or the active memory, is like the top of your desk. Grab a file from your filing cabinet, and open it on your desk. Shuffle to the pages you need, and work on them.
If you have a large desk at home of the office, you can have a lot of file folders and papers spread out to work on. If you have a little school desk, you'll have trouble opening even one file folder without all the papers falling to the floor. This is what slows down your computer. Your storage/filing cabinet/hard disk won't slow down your computer, but insufficient RAM or desk space will.
Lots of open tabs on your web browser and having several open programs will slow down your computer. If your computer seems too slow, close those you don't need open.
Old computers might have 2-4 gigs of RAM. That's too little. 8-16 or more is better. Some computers can be upgraded with more RAM, but some can't. Laptops might not be upgradable at all. Really cheap notebook computers today might still come with only 2 gigs of ram. that's OK for checking email or typing a letter, but not much else.
Hope this decodes geek-speak a bit for you. Contact us for personalized training and coaching.
