For many computer users out there it is just hard to imagine have a fast computer that is problem free! This is because they look at their computer like it is a stranger, like someone who just showed up and plopped themselves down in their home or their office - not necessarily with a warm welcome either.

Having a computer tuned up by a professional can be costly but the benefits are definitely worth the results. Where do you put a value on your time? If a computer technician can come to you, increase the speed and efficiency of your computer and save you large amounts of time, then isn't that worth it?

Once inside a computer, there are many different parts and components that you need to know about in order to properly tune this machine. They all serve different purposes and can have different effects on performance when upgraded and/or replaced. One of these internal components is the RAM, which is also one of the most important parts of the computer.

Random Access Memory is the definition for the acronym RAM. The reason why it is used in modern day computing is because of the Random Access feature. This allows a computer to quickly drop data into RAM for quick computations and the more of this you have the faster your PC will be.

On Microsofts website it states that the minimum amount of RAM for a pc running windows XP is 64 Megs. I can tell you right now from experience that any computer out there with only 64 Megs of RAM is in big trouble if they expect to run XP smoothly.

At one time 256 MEG's of RAM was sufficient for Windows XP to run smoothly. However, MS decided to come out with a massive service pack which was aptly named Service Pack 2. This provided a nice layer of much needed security, but it also made the memory used go up substantially. Now, any computer running Windows XP and Service Pack 2 at the same time needs much more RAM.

At this point it is necessary to upgrade the amount of RAM located on the motherboard. Even though the Microsoft site says it is okay to have only 64 MEG's of RAM a PC with Service pack 2 should have no less than 512 to run smoothly.

Upgrading the RAM is a fairly easy process and can be undertaken by even the most novice of computer users. To drastically increase the performance of your PC, this is the best bang for your buck possible.