RAM stands for Random Access Memory. This is the memory your computer reads and writes data to. Right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop and choose Properties. On the first page, you will see a number like 32MB or 128MB. This number is the number of megabytes of memory your computer has. All your programs — from Windows to Word to your favorite games — need RAM memory to run.
RAM comes in two primary types: SIMMs and DIMMs. See Memory Types for more information.
Want to boost your system performance? Add more RAM. Running 32MB of RAM with today’s high-performance software will really slow your system down. Adding more RAM can often greatly boost performance, especially if you run many programs at the same time. Without enough RAM, your computer is forced to use the swap file on your hard drive to store and retrieve data that won’t fit into RAM. A swap file is basically a type of RAM on your hard drive. It is much, much slower than normal RAM, though, and if your computer is frequently using this swap file, your system and your work will suffer.