…is it to install more RAM in a PC? My two-year old E-Machine has only 32MB, and I only have around 3MB left, and it’s really slowing things down. The 4GB hard drive has almost have of it’s memory left, so I don’t think it’s that. I’m not the best with computers, so forgive my ignorance. Any suggestions?
Should not be a problem at all (in theory) to put in new RAM. There are a plethora of sites with FAQs that tell you what to look for, how to buy, where they go, etc… Do a search on RAM FAQ and pick and choose. I think pny.com (PNY is a RAM manufacturer) has some excellent tutorials, even an animated gif or two on the actual physical installation. Your main job is fact finding - learning what type of RAM is in the machine now, what your motherboard can accept, etc. Call the manufacturer, they should know, or it will be in the manuals that came with the machine. Good luck!
Assuming that you have free ram slots. It’s a pretty painless procedure. Go buy the most ram you can afford, unplug the computer, open the computer and insert the new ram into the appropriate slot. When you turn the computer back on it should find the new ram that was installed.
Seeming as how you only have 32MB in the machine now it would probably be easiest to remove the chips that are currently in the machine and replace it with an all new bigger chip(s). Mixing memory chips is an iffy proposition, even if you can figure out exactly what kind of memory is in there now from your manuals or from EMachines (they’re still in business??).
I’m pretty good with computers but a few years ago I bought the wrong kind of memory chips for my motherboard after misreading the manual which was written in sloppily translated English. Still have the chips, but they’ve never been plugged in. Grrr…
If you don’t trust yourself with such a task, look in your phone book under “Computer Service & Repair”. It’s a pretty simple procedure and if you supply the memory I don’t think it’d cost you much at all.