How do find out how much RAM my computer has and how much it is using?

Answer: Knowing how much RAM, or memory, your computer has is important because it determines what programs you can run on your machine. The more RAM you have, the more memory-intensive programs you can run. It also allows you to run more programs at one time. Having "excess" RAM is even beneficial, as it helps your computer avoid bottlenecks when processing large amounts of data.

If you are using Windows, you can find out how much RAM you have by right-clicking the My Computer icon and selecting "Properties..." This will open the System Properties window and you can view the amount of physical memory installed under the General tab. You can find out how much memory your computer is currently using by right-clicking anywhere in the open space of the Taskbar and selecting "Task Manager." Then click the Performance tab of the window that opens and you will be able to view your memory usage.

If you are using Mac OS X, you can see you much RAM is installed in your computer by choosing "About This Mac" from the Apple menu. This is located in the far upper left-hand corner of the screen. To find out how much memory is being used, open the Activity Monitor program, located in the Utilities folder (within the Applications folder). Then click the System Memory button near the bottom of the window to see how much memory your system is currently using.

Published: March 29, 2005 — by Per Christensson