Can’t add physical RAM? Maybe you have a notebook that already has the maximum amount of memory installed. In that case, Vista provides you with a way to fool your computer into thinking it has more RAM than it does. You can use a flash memory card or USB key as a cache, which Vista can access quicker than data stored on the hard disk.

ReadyBoost lets you use a USB stick such as this 2GB Kingston unit as a fast hard disk cache to speed up your Vista system. You can specify how much of the flash memory to dedicate to ReadyBoost and how much to reserve for data storage.

It’s best to use a high-performance flash card or USB drive for ReadyBoost. When you insert it, Windows will ask if you want to use it to speed up system performance, and then you can allocate how much of the card’s/drive’s memory you want to use for that purpose. The rest can be used for storing data.

Title: Increase Vista’s Performance - Use ReadyBoost
Author: Debra Littlejohn Shinder