RAM vs ROM – how do I know what I have?
Ram is considered primary storage. This is where programs are loaded to be executed. They are loaded from a hard disk drive which is considered secondary storage. You are confusing them to be sure. ROM is Read Only Memory. this is where machine language programs and routines (like bios and startup) are stored. Ram looses its contents when power is lost. Rom is permenent as is what is stored on the hard disk drive. To see how much memory you have click on start then my computer, then in the left blue “common task pane” click on view system properties. On the general tab, your Operating system cpu and memory will be listed. To see how much disk space you have click on start then my computer and RIGHT click on your C: drive and choose properties. You will see a pie chart with total used and free space.
Your hard drive is your “real” memory, your RAM is indicative of what your processor can handle at any given time. The reason you are probably getting errors is because you probably don’t have much RAM either. It isn’t as important a factor, as any programs that require more will just borrow it from your hard drive, using it as virtual memory-they’ll just run slow. Problem is, you don’t have any free, so you’re going to get lots of errors any time you try to run anything. 14 gigs is not much in today’s age, and disk cleanup won’t help you much. In order to retrieve more of your hard disk space, you are going to have to uninstall some programs. Windows XP installed by itself will take up 1.5-2 gigs of your hard drive, so that doesn’t leave much room for other programs or games, especially if they are newer or have tons of graphics. You can easily add an external hard drive, but considering what you have now, it may be more prudent to just ditch the old dinosaur and get something new, or
