If you are a regular ole PC user whom has been finding their computer getting slower and slower lately. I may have a tip for you which can make some genuine performance boosts.

One of the things that “we” (as tech geeks) get asked a lot is how to speed up my computer. It’s not as easy as most people would like to think in a lot of cases, but in some cases.. it IS actually pretty darn simply. A RAM upgrade, but that usually means that you have to crack open the case, find out what type of RAM you have, buy some, install some, etc..etc..

Truth be told it’s really quite simple and anyone that knows anything at all about computers should be able to do that for you. However, there is a simpler way to increase your ‘RAM’ size without actually going through all that. With Vista and Windows 7 it comes included – with XP it’s available as an add on program.. and all you need? A flash drive.

Come to think of it, I have an extra one sitting at my desk  which I was going to try to put for sale, but since it isn’t being used… as soon I get back to work from lunch I’m going to install the program. It’s called ReadyBoost. Basically what it does is perform the exact same functions as regular RAM – but in a different spot (your memory stick) and at less speed.. USB2 or 1 Speeds are dramatically slower than that of RAM.

Microsoft does a good job of tooting it’s own horn as to the features of ReadyBoost – you can read the full article here if you’d like.

To get into the settings, all you have to do is right click on the plugged in USB drive and go to the ReadyBoost tab. I would recommend you plug in your USB stick in the back of your computer as there are a lot of computers in which the USB slots in the front are of slower speeds (USB1).

You then pop on over to the ReadyBoost tab and click on the Use this device radio button… choose the amount.. and boom.. you’re all set!

You don’t even need to allocate the entire amount to ReadyBoost – you can use half of it, or whatever you want.. and use the rest for your own data if you like.

Does it Work?

Well, I haven`t taken advantage.. but a simple google search on one of the Internets most trusted hardware review page, Tom`s hardware states the following:

The results are impressive: Using both features, Windows Vista shows off how it can effectively reduce application launch times to provide a better performance experience with your everyday software. At only 512 MB RAM, application launch times decrease from 9 seconds (OpenOffice Writer 2.1) and 10 seconds (Outlook 2007) to 2-4 seconds only. Adding our 1 GB USB 2.0 Flash stick helped to shorten launch times for these applications to 2-3 seconds only. The next conclusion is that Windows Vista with only 512 MB RAM is no fun at all, because applications start much faster only by having 1 GB of RAM. In fact, both Outlook 2007 and OpenOffice Writer 2.1 start even faster on a fresh Windows Vista installation than on our SuperFetch-trained and ReadyBoost-enabled system at only 512 MB.

Having 2 GB of RAM reduced application launch times even more, but now we’re talking about fractions of a second. But again: If you study our results carefully, you’ll realize that it makes sense plugging an unused high-speed USB 2.0 Flash device into a USB 2.0 port: Application responsiveness at lauch does still benefit!

Although the technology helps to make best use of what you already have, we recommend having at least 1 GB of RAM before you even think of installing Vista. Enthusiasts and power users should not start the Vista voyage with less than 2 GB RAM, because you’ll not only want to provide memory space for SuperFetch; you should also think of your running applications. Give Vista as much memory as you can, and it will thank you by serving you quicker.

And keep in mind that this conclusion was reached over 2 years ago. I will post in the notes later on if I notice any significant improvement, the reason that I`m blogging about this today however – is that I noticed that flash drives are getting SO cheap nowadays with buy.com for example offering 4 x 4gig Kingston Flash drives for just $36.99 and they had all kinds of others on sale.. it got me to thinking what to do with all of these Flash drives that people are buying.

XP Users

I almost forgot to post that this doesn’t work for XP users, however there is a program called ‘Eboostr’ which claims to do the exact same thing. Unfortunately – it costs money to use (although a free trial may be available) but I’m currently looking for a free alternative.