This may sound like a tech-heavy article but trust me, it's not. My own technophobic dad could do this one (and he'd better after I tell him). All you need is the good old Notepad accessory and, let's say, about 30 seconds of your time. Ready? Let's begin.

First up, why do you need a RAM booster? Well, it's not so much a question of why because we all want a faster PC. This is more a question of when. If you've been running a large application (or several large applications, maybe a game, Photoshop, something like that) the RAM can get taken up quickly. Even when you close down these programs, RAM can still be eaten-up.

You'll notice this effect at the end of the day. When you first power-up your PC it's running smoothly, by the end of the day it's as sluggish as teenager who's just eaten a whole pizza. Now, you can get various applications to solve this. Some cost a little, some cost a lot. But personally, I like free. Especially when that free is really quick and easy.

NP

So, here's what you need to do. It works for both Vista and XP.

Step One: Open up Notepad (it's in Accessories)

Step Two: Type in MYSTRING=(80000000)

Step Three: Save the file as MEMORY.VBE (or RAM.VBE if you like...just remember the .VBE)

Step Four: Make sure you save the file to your DESKTOP.

Step Five: Just double-click the newly created file on your desktop whenever your PC seems sluggish. It will give your RAM a much needed boost.

If you have less than 128mb of RAM (is that possible these days?) change the 80000000 to 160000000 and it should work the same.

That's it. Quick, simple and a real time-saver. By the way, don't ask me how it works, I have absolutely no idea. A close friend far smarter than myself gave me the tip. I tried it, it worked like a charm. Let's go to work.