RAM Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Will moving the Page File on my Windows PC make it run faster?

Posted on March 6, 2026

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Question from Ethan: I was reading an article last night that discussed using part of a computer’s unused RAM as a RAM Disk, and it got me to thinking.

I have an older desktop computer that’s running Windows 10 (it can’t be upgraded to Windows 11). It has 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive.

This machine runs really slow, coming almost to a crawl at times. After doing some research I’ve determined that it’s likely sluggish because it’s doing a ton of swapping back and forth with the page file.

Do you think moving the Windows Page File to a RAM Disk would help speed it up? [Read more…]

Q&A: Will the RAM in my old laptop work in a new one?

Posted on July 28, 2025

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Question from Mike: I know it’s time to buy a new laptop and I’m looking to save as much money as possible.

The machine I’m replacing is a Dell Inspiron 14 5000 that I bought back in January 2015.

Since the old Dell has 16GB of RAM in it I was wondering if it’s possible to buy a new laptop with just 4GB of RAM and then swap the RAM from the Dell into the new laptop?

[Read more…]

Q&A: Can counterfeit RAM damage a laptop?

Posted on April 9, 2024

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Question from Hailey: Rick, I think I’ve gotten myself into a mess and I need your advice.

I recently purchased two RAM modules on Ebay to go an older laptop I own.

The modules I bought were listed and sold as Kingston brand but I just found out that the seller was busted for selling counterfeit computer parts.

The new RAM seems to be working fine in my laptop, but I was wondering if it might cause problems down the road. [Read more…]

This is the best computer upgrade you can make for the money

Posted on April 3, 2024

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Every week I receive hundreds of questions for the Tech Q&A section of my blog, and one question I get asked on a regular basis is “What’s the best upgrade I can make to speed up my computer?”

In times past my answer was always the same: add more RAM!

But I’m afraid that’s no longer true in most situations…

[Read more…]

How to check your smartphone’s memory usage

Posted on January 24, 2024

Even premium smartphones have their limitations. As soon as the memory and space on the smartphone runs out, it will begin appear unstable, start to lag, or even freeze up or turn off.

The problem isn’t necessarily the smartphone memory, but you can easily check to see if RAM and/or storage space usage on your smartphone could be causing the issues. [Read more…]