[sunstateshirley]

I am a complete novice so please forgive me. My computer is and older one. My OS is Windows XP service pack 2. When I bought my computer it was advertized to have 512 MB RAM. When I got it home and hooked it up it had much less. I suppose this was due to pre-installed programs. I now have 384 MB RAM. I wanted to download an internet security program but was told I did'nt have enough RAM. I thought if I REMOVED some things that I never used, that this would increase my RAM. However, anything I removed did not change the 384 MB that are showing. Question 1: Why not? Question 2: I have a program called "ROXIE EASY CD & DVD Creator 6 that I never use. It says its file size is 706.00 MB. How is that possible?

[KISS]

The missing RAM is used for the video display. I know, they don't tell you that.

Programs can be very big. It's possible that it tries to contain an entire CD in RAM if possible. I do agree, that 706 MB seems excessive.

You need to add RAM to get more ram. You need the right type and speed. Memory upgrades, flash media, and usb storage at Crucial.com is a suggested website. There are restrictions with some machines such as must be paired, highest size memory first etc.

[Curlyben]

Again you seem to be getting confused between RAM and Hard drive space.

RAM is used while the computer is in operation to run programs and hard drive space is used to store these programs.

Now granted 384 Mb is on the low side, but not unworkable. Replacement RAM is a simple purchase, as previously mentioned.

Now Roxio uses 706Mb of HARD DRIVE (storage) space and ONLY uses RAM when it is in operation.

Please reread my response here: https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/antivi...ze-226683.html

[JBeaucaire]

Open up MY COMPUTER
Right click on your hard drive and choose PROPERTIES
How much FREE SPACE is on your Hard Drive?


Close all the programs so you can see your desktop
Right Click on MY COMPUTER and choose PROPERTIES
The System Properties pops up and shows you 384 mb of RAM.

These are two different numbers, OK? Make sure you don't mix them up in your thinking.

HD space =
RAM =

CurlyBen is "technically" right that 384mb is usable for Windows, but only if you a LOT of free time. My recommendations to people is always the same - put in ALL the memory your computer can take. You sit at the computer daily, this means the time savings adds up immediately. So do it.

What is the exact make and model of your computer? Desktop or laptop? For instance, my laptop is an HP Pavilion dv5000. What's yours?

[morgaine300]

Windows itself is using part of that memory and it's always going to. It's not that you don't have the memory. i.e. you didn't come home and find that you don't really have 512. Yes, you do. It's on the motherboard and it's there. Memory is used to run programs. And Windows (and all its extraterrestrial components) is using part of it just to run. Windows is a program too. That's what the memory is there for. Windows gets first dibs so that your computer can even run, and then the rest of the programs can fight over the rest while they are trying to run. You're trying to get that entire 512 and it's never going to happen because Windows needs some.

Programs take up drive space just to exist and sit there, but they use RAM when they are running. When they stop running, they aren't using the RAM anymore. (Theoretically.) I don't know if this analogy will make sense. But your body is taking up space. If you gained weight, you'd take up more space. If you chopped off a leg, you'd take up less space. But your brain (RAM) is used when thinking. When you're asleep and not thinking and doing stuff, you're still using a little brain power just to run some bodily processes and as long as you're alive, that will never stop. So that part of your brain will never be available for thinking. If you are awake and thinking about something, you're using more brain power. You can only think of so many things at once. If you tried to do too much at once, you'd probably get all confused cause your brain can't handle it. But chopping off your leg to take up less space isn't going to enable you to think about any more things at once, nor is it going to stop that part of your brain which is always needed to run those bodily processes.

If this new thing you're trying to download says you don't have enough memory, then you simply need to get more and that's all there is to it.