Do I need more RAM for my Laptop?

[AZ-Tax]

I have a Toshiba Satellite A500 (actually its a A505) laptop: Intel Core Duo 2.2GHz, Win7, 4GB memory or RAM, 500GB storage. 394GB of my 453GB is free. There are times when my laptop chugs w/o being on the web and only 1 window opened. Also, more and more a small window pops up from the task bar saying "High Disk Usage by" when I am on the web usually when I have more then one webs page open. When I watch stuff, its seems to buffer more and more.

Yesterday I was on the phone with ProSeries (PS) tech support due to some of my form links on my left column in each return were not appearing. The PS tech guy took control of my pc and deleted the cache files related to PS and suggested I may want add RAM. I told him I use to have a HP laptop probably somewhere between 2007 thru 2009 and I believe I doubled the RAM which resulted in my HP running warm, then HOT then shutting down. The PS tech guy told me about something those laptops had back then that contributed to it running hot but Laptops made in 2008 and on have fixed that problem.

So will doubling my RAM to 8GB take care of my problem? Also, how often am I suppose to clean out my laptop for dust etc.and is that something I can do myself? I bot my laptop in Dec 2009 and have yet to blow the dust out.

[Lion]

Clean Your Laptop Yourself?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpCJzdWxEbQ

[FEDUKE404]

Possibilities

I would suggest you use something along the lines of "disk cleanup" (start -> accessories -> system tools) regularly to do routine disk maintenance.

In addition to that, you should routinely dump your internet disk cache.

Commercial software is available to tune your registry files, look for bad links, etc.

Any/all of the above can slow down a computer - completely separate from any physical memory issues. (If you have a lot of "junk" running, either by choice or in your start-up menu, such can also hog memory and make less memory available.)

My gut feeling is you likely have plenty of memory on what appears to be a "new" computer. (You can always read the specs for the software you mentioned to see if your system adequately meets those requirements.) A quick look here ( http://proseries.intuit.com/products...al/sysReqs.jsp ) showed 1 GB of ram is "recommended" if you have more than 1000 clients or have installed all 1040 products.

BTW: I assume you are performing regular Microsoft and other software updates?

As for the heat, be sure you always have a ventilated surface underneath any laptop. Operating a laptop on something like a bed can easily raise the operating temperatures due to poor ventilation. (And I thoroughly enjoyed the video by Lion!!)

FE

[Lion]

Credit

I'd like to give credit to the original poster of that video, but I don't remember exactly who it was. It was someone on one of my three favorite boards but not me. I thought it was hilarious and creative. I believe that God set screws to keep me out of places I don't belong, so I don't do anything that involves a screwdriver when it come to electronics. If it involves more than a door, I call my friendly, local techie. I have a lot of admiration for you brave people who do it yourself. You save a lot of money plus don't have to wait to get your equipment working again.