(NAPSA)—Anytime during the school year can be the right time for a high schoolor college student to take a closer look at the computer heor sheis using to see ifit has enough memory. Many students find that investing in a memory upgradefor their computer can pay dividends when it comes to speed of operation and their computer’s ability to run programs that demand a lot of memory. For starters, if the computer has slowed down and is sluggish when it performs everyday tasks, such as viewing digital photos, watching videos, working on a presentation or term paper, or even taking online classes, it may be time to consider a memory upgrade. In addition, it’s common for engineering and finance students to run CAD and modeling programs. These are data-intensive programs that may require additional memory to run efficiently. The same maybetruefor arts and design majors who run Photoshop, music majors who use composition software, and geology majors who run advanced mapping software. Typically, programs such as these can benefit from having additional memory. Also, if it seems to take for- ever for the computer to restart and response time slows down when more than one program or windowis open at the same time, it’s likely that it can use more memory. While manyfind that improving the memory on a computer can be a fairly simple operation, it’s still not without its challenges. To help, here are sometips. Is It All About The RAM? RAM—which stands for Random Access Memory—is the internal memoryspecifically used by the computer to run programs. If you are reading your e-mail, watching a video, writing a report or playing a game, your computer is loading those programs into RAM to run them. These types of computing activities can benefit most directly from a memory upgrade, by providing more space to run additional programs. If you find that your computeris sluggish when you are watching a video or writing a term paper, it may be time for a memory upgrade. Is There Enough Memory? Increasingly, manycolleges and high schools have specific requirements concerning the kind of com- puter they expect a studentto use. Often, this includes how powerful the computeris expected to be and how much memoryit needs to haveat its disposal. Can I Do It Myself? Fortunately, installing the memorycan be a fairly straightforward activity. However, the process of finding the correct type of memory upgrade for your computer can sometimes be a real challenge for the average computer owner. The good newsis that there is an online retailer called Crucial.com that specializes in memory and storage. It also offers free, easyto-use online tools designed to help consumers quickly find the memory upgrade best suited to restoring a computer’s lost performance. Simply use the drop-down menu on the Crucial Memory Advisor tool to see the types of memory supported by your computer and recommended memory upgradeoptions. For those unsure of the computer’s make and model, there is a System Scanner tool that automatically scans the computer’s system and recommends compatible upgrades for its system. Hundreds of thousandsof types of computer memory upgradesfor PCs and Mac computers, both new and old, are available through the Crucial.com website. To find your memory upgrade options, visit www.crucial.com.
