So you've installed a new hard drive and expanded your computing horizons with new PCI cards - and that's great and everything - but your computer still runs too slowly. Sure you've got all that extra storage capacity and all those different ways to interface with your computer, but you've noticed that the old box just doesn't move like it used to.

Consequently, you've been worried that you may have to put the old girl to sleep. After all, your computer's had a good run. You've been through it all together - Slashdot to Digg, Dark Age of Camelot to World of Warcraft, HTML to PHP - but it just doesn't have the memory to keep up with all the spry young apps of today.

Worry no longer! This week, the hardware installation series takes on speeding up your old PC by installing more RAM (random access memory).

RAM wha?! If you're not familiar with RAM, think of it like this: If your CPU were a cook, then your hard drive is the refrigerator, and your RAM is the kitchen table. When your CPU starts cooking dinner, it lays out food from your hard drive/refrigerator on your RAM/kitchen table for fast and easy access. If your RAM is too small, you might not have enough space for all the food when the CPU starts cooking a big Thanksgiving dinner. That's when you know you need more RAM.

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