If you find that your computer is slowing down when you are using large files or have many programs open at the same time, the quickest and cheapest way to increase your computers performance is increasing the RAM or memory.

Here is how you do it::

 1. Find out what kind of RAM you need and how much RAM your computer can have installed. This can be found from the motherboard manual or online. If you get really stuck, send us an email with your motherboard make/model and we will find out for you. The ram should be of the same speed as your existing RAM.

 2. Turn off your machine and remove the power cord from the computer and remove the cover of the computer

3. This is important, ground yourself before touching the inside components of the computer, you can do this by touching the metal the chassis of the case

4. Find the RAM slots, they should look like this:

5. Pick up your RAM by the ends, being careful not to touch the gold pins or chips

6. When inserting the RAM, you will notice there is a notch along the bottom where the pins are. You will also notice that in the DIMM slot also has this notch which corresponds exactly to the notch in the RAM. Ensure the white clips are pushed back and insert straight in so that it is perpendicular to the motherboard. 

7. You will feel or hear retaining clips lock the socket and then close the side clips on the RAM

8. Leave the cover off and power up the machine. If you hear beeping or get no video on your monitor you have not installed the RAM correctly.

9. When the machine boots up, check the system properties (right-clicking the My Computer icon in Windows and choosing Properties) to ensure the extra memory is being seen by the computer

10. Turn off the machine and replace the cover. 

 That's it, you machine should now be running a lot more efficiently.