Expand your memory
You can get a significant speed boost by adding more RAM to your system. If you only have 1GB installed, increasing this to 2GB or 3GB will make a noticeable difference. 32-bit versions of Windows (XP and Vista) can recognize up to 4GB of RAM, but only make use of about 3.5GB of it. 64-bit versions of WIndows don’t have this restriction and can handle a whopping 128GB.
