| Happy Good Memory Day!
It’s a day dedicated to remembering fond memories and making new ones! My oldest fond memory with computers goes back to when I was 13 and living in Turkey. It was the early 90s and personal computers were considered luxury, so it took quite a bit convincing to have my dad buy me my very first computer. Once home, curious me quickly moved on from using the computer to taking it apart. This was barely a couple weeks after my dad spent 2 months of his salary to buy it, so he naturally freaked out when he walked in on me and saw the computer taken apart in pieces. I promised him I’d put it back together in an hour and was able to buy myself some time. Even though it took longer than that, I got it done with couple extra screws at hand. Surprisingly on the very first try, it turned on!
I’m so grateful to be able to recall memories like this. One should never take their memory for granted! Brain exercises will help improve your memory, cognition, and creativity. Here are 22 options to choose from.
I can’t just talk about memory without talking about computer memory now, can I? Computer memory is also called RAM (Random Access Memory) plays a very important role on your computer’s performance. Here are some important things to know about RAM so you can fight back those frustrating slowdowns:
- For computers primarily being used for office work, we recommend minimum of 16GB RAM. Those being used for creative work such as video editing should have at least 32GB.
- All open applications use RAM, and some use a lot more than others. Browsers with lots of tabs open are big culprits when it comes to eating up resources. Keeping unused applications closed and open tabs to a minimum will help lower RAM usage.
- When your available RAM runs low, your computer can no longer keep everything moving swiftly as it runs out of temporary space to hold things together. This often translates to major performance slow downs.
- Defective RAM can cause a lot of issues: strange errors codes, applications quitting on their own, random computer reboots, and more. If your computer is behaving strangely, it may be due to defective RAM. Thankfully testing RAM is easy, and we can help!
- When we talk about computer RAM, we often refer to memory sticks on the system board. However, graphics cards also often carry dedicated RAM. If you do a lot of graphics work (such as AutoCad), making sure your computer has a decent graphics controller with dedicated RAM will help with performance. Keep in mind, laptops very rarely come with dedicated graphics cards due to lack of space. That is why most power users go for desktop computers.
- Upgrading RAM is almost always possible except when you buy a MAC. Apple designs most of their computers with permanent specifications which cannot be upgraded. This is why it’s very important to spend a bit extra upfront when purchasing a new MAC to ensure its specifications will meet your needs in the future.
- A lot of applications like to start when you turn on the computer and stay in the system tray. All of those apps also eat up RAM. Eliminating apps that you don’t always need running from starting up every time you turn on your computer is always recommended.
- Those of you that are tech curious can take advantage of task manager on Windows or the Activity Monitor on MAC to see all open applications and RAM used for each of them. This will help you review what’s running at any given time and how much resources are being utilized. Keep in mind, total used RAM displayed here may not always be accurate as the system often shows the allocated amount instead of amount in use.
Now let’s make some happy memories!
– Burak Sarac, Team Lead
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