Computer Too Full?

Posted on October 9, 2007
Filed Under Business Computing, Security, Software |

One of the most common complaints with computers nowadays is that given time, they tend to slow to a crawl. Even if the computer was a speed demon when you got it and it runs Windows, it will slow down – drastically. It’s one of Murphy’s Laws.

Users tend to think that the reason their computer has slowed is the amount of information stored on it. There are times when the amount of information stored on a computer might affect performance but by and large there is no correlation. So where does this misconception come from?

The reality is that computer memory can indeed have a radical impact on computer performance. That’s memory as in RAM (random access memory) as opposed to permanent memory in the form of disk space however. The difference between hard drive (sometimes referred to as hard disk) memory and RAM memory is distinct yet it always leads to a great deal of confusion.

RAM memory can be thought of as one of those Etch a Sketch toys you used to play with as a kid (if you don’t remember them, check out http://www.etchy.org – heck, check it out even if you do remember them!). RAM stores information while you’re working on it but it doesn’t save it permanently. Shake the Etch a Sketch or fail to save on a computer, and your work is lost.

RAM comes on computer chips and can only store information while the computer is powered on. When a file – such as a Word document – is opened, the file is copied from the hard drive (more on that to come) into RAM memory and is only copied back to the hard drive when the document is saved.

Conversely, hard disks store information permanently whether the computer is on or off. A hard drive is actually very much like a cassette or VCR tape in that it stores information magnetically. Hard drives are mechanical devices with spinning disks (platters) that actually store data.

Hard drives store a lot of information but the problem with them is that their being mechanical means reading from and saving to them is very slow. That’s where RAM memory comes in; you can store information permanently on a hard drive but to work on it you copy it to RAM memory which is very fast.

And that’s where the performance issue often comes from. It’s usually not a question of how much you have stored on your computer but rather how much RAM memory you have available to copy it to when you’re working on it. Not enough RAM memory and the computer needs to get information from the hard drive rather than RAM memory more often.

So why would a new computer seem so fast only to slow down as it ages? There are a number of reasons but practically all of them revolve around more RAM memory being needed as time goes on. This could be a result of Windows itself needing more RAM memory as updates are released, more programs loading into memory as the computer starts up, or spyware and other malware devouring available memory.

There is technology built into Windows that makes it think that there is more RAM memory installed than there actually is. “Virtual Memory” uses hard disk space to simulate RAM memory and if there is very little hard disk space available, this is one of the few times the amount of data stored on a computer could contribute to it running slow.

So if your computer is running slow, have a quick peek at “My Computer” to be sure there is hard drive space available. If there is, your problem may very well be RAM memory.

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