Ask anyone about their home PC and you will get one answer more than any other, “it’s slow.”  This is typically the point at which most computer owners will begin to debate a new PC purchase.  It is also the reason I began JumpstartMyPC.com.  Home computers will slow down over time, but that doesn’t mean they should be cast aside.  As we have pointed out time and time again, there are steps you can take to keep a PC running like new and a hardware upgrade can help speed up an aging machine, but what if you are caught in the middle?

You’ve already performed your routine maintenance: defragged your computer, cleaned the registry and dumped all of your browser history and unnecessary files.  That helped, but you still feel like you want/need more speed from your PC.  You’ve debated that switch from 1GB of RAM to 4GB, but the upgrade will cost you over $100 + shipping and you aren’t quite sure if you want to open up your tower or laptop and “fiddle around in there.”  If you find yourself in this state of limbo and you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 (any version), there might just be a simple, cost-effective answer right in front of you.

Ready, Set…. Boost!

First introduced with Windows Vista in 2006, ReadyBoost gave users the option to use flash memory, a USB/jump drive, SD card, or external hard drive as a drive for disk cache.  Without getting too technical, this means that you can use any one of these storage devices to speed up your PC.  Even though this technology was introduced 4 years ago, it wasn’t something I would have considered until the last year.  Why?  Well, flash memory has gotten really, really inexpensive.  Two years ago, I would not have given up my 4GB jump drive for anything.  Today, I find myself with multiple USB drives just collecting dust and the prices are dropping almost daily.

Not Equal, But Hard to Ignore (prices taken from Amazon.com)

Getting started with ReadyBoost is unbelievably simple.  Just locate a USB drive or SD card (or both), clear up some room by removing unnecessary files and plug it into a Windows Vista or Windows 7 PC.  Windows will prompt you with the standard AutoPlay pop-up menu and you’ll see an option you may have never noticed before, labeled “Speed up my system.”

Click on our new-found button and follow through the options presented.  You can use a portion of the drive you just plugged in or the entire device.  The more you use, the better performance you will see out of your PC.  Windows will put a temporary file on your drive but don’t worry, it will disappear when you remove your card or flash drive.  Just leave the drive plugged in as long as you want the boost.

Speed Increases

Adding a flash card and/or USB drive (or both at once) can have a sizable impact on certain tasks, like application loading, closing and switching time, but doesn’t do much for CPU intensive tasks.  Ryan Smith wrote an article for anandtech.com a few years ago, in which he documented a series of tests that he ran using ReadyBoost.  His tests proved that users would benefit more from a RAM increase than ReadyBoost usage, but that was pretty much a given.  We know that ReadyBoost was meant to “bridge the gap” between maintenance and hardware upgrades.

What I found particularly interesting about Ryan’s article was that most speed improvements were found in the opening and closing of programs.  For the average PC user, who likes to surf the internet and check email, this is exactly what you need.

Tradeoff

The ReadyBoost technology is great, but there is a tradeoff for not simply upgrading your RAM.  First, unless you use a SD card, you will have a USB drive sticking out of your PC all the time.  Secondly, any of the flash devices used will wear out over time.  According to some research I’ve read, that time might be ten years from now, but every device is different.  Since flash memory keeps getting cheaper, I think I can deal with it.  Lastly, an occupied USB or SD card slot might become an issue.  How many devices do you plug in at one time?  Do you use your memory card slot to transfer pictures constantly?  These might be things to consider before moving forward.

Tags: boost, cache, drive, flash, Memory, RAM, ReadyBoost, SD card, Speed, USB, Vista, Windows, Windows 7

This entry was posted on Monday, May 3rd, 2010 at 9:28 am and is filed under Free Programs, PC Support, Tips and Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.