Getting the most out of my RAM

Ahoy.

I have a rather shitty yet not too bad Compaq qith 512 mb of ram. I'm used to much faster computers, but my last laptop got stolen, so I just got this one on Ebay for 250$ or so...

Anyhow, how can I get the most out of my RAM? Are there any good ram booster programs I can download (I have tried one or two, yet they didn't really seem to help). My computer tends to get overloaded a tad (Especially with Civ IV, practically the only game I play), so I have to terminate my AVG

Cheers

 

linux will always take full advantage of your hardware if you tell it to. windows will never do that no matter how great of a computer you can build/buy. i guess it all depends on what you want and what you can do.

more speed?
OR
easier?

 

I don't know if I have the patience to learn Linux... I know my way around Windows rather well, and am a fast learner when it comes to computers... but... still.... linux just seems so foreign.

 

Its not really worth using ram booster software, all it does anyway is increase the size of the disk cache - ok so heres what you do - I assume you got xp ?

right click "my computer"
properties
advanced
settings
advanced

go down to virtual memory and click change
now put in two custom values,
for initial size make that the same as your RAM
for the maximum size make that 3 times the size of the RAM
then press set
and ok that

now go to visual effects and select adjust for best performance, then scroll down the list and tick the very last one only and ok that

now you have done basically everything that a "so called" ram optimiser does anyway

reboot and try that

 

swap space can be distributed over multiple had disks in creasing throughput. also, swap can be put on a fast flash drive and be used AS ram. seems to work very well.

once, i installed suse on a flash drive and booted Lilo from a floppy. it was very very fast.