you have 2 questions in your original post, the last was is MS OS slower than linux if you mean in general as OS against OS usually linux is a faster Os as it is much less bloated so it is quite speedy and is a great candidate to be run on old computers that have trouble running windows. I much prefer to use my linux for my dialy use, it is safer and on my system faster, I have 2 hard drives in one pc one with windows xp pro one with Mepis8 linux, so everything is the same virtually for both other than they are on different hard drives but both have the same speed rating. I don't really understand what you are asking however about the speed, you mention his linux box getting 30 but what did his windows box get on the same connection and same speed test? are you saying there was a difference in his own house on his various computers? Or are you comparing your house and your pc to his one linux pc in his house? very different questions, need to know to understand.

This is how to replace RAM in a PC. It just takes a few simple steps to do this, it is really not that hard. You can trust me since I have an a+ certification in computer hardware and software. I know what I am doing, I am an expert. 1. First of all, you need to shut off your computer. To do this press the power button on the front of the computer after you have shut it down from Start> Shutdown on your start menu. 2. Unplug the power cord from your computer. This is the big black/white/grey plug that plugs into the power supply on the back of your PC. 3. Unplug the rest of the wires from the back of the computer. 4. Find a sturdy flat surface on which to work on. 5. Unscrew all screws from the back of your computer except the power supply screws. You will make a mess if you unscrew the power supply screws. 6. Open your computer up by taking the side panel off, or sliding the cover off. It might be difficult but it will come off if you have taken all the screws out. 5. Now before touching anything inside, it is a good idea to hook up to an anti-static wrist strap. If you dont have an anti-static wrist strap, just touch the side of the computer where it is metal to deshock yourself. Then when you touch the inner components you wont risk damaging any of them. 7. Find the RAM, it should be a 4 inch card sticking out horizontally on the motherboard. 8. Once you find the RAM, find the clips holding it in on either end of the ram, hold your thumb over both ends of the clips and firmly press down on the clips. They should pop the ram out. 9. Remove the RAM. Now that you've removed the ram, the next step is to reinsert some new ram into your ram slots. To do this keep the clips on both sides open, and slide the ram into the slot if it doesnt want to go in you might have it going in backwards so try both ways until you get a good fit. Make sure the ram is not lopsided when its clamped down or it will not work. Thank you, happy computing! Source from here http://www.trap17.com/forums/Replace-Ram-Pc-t27796.html And pictures below at links: http://www.fonerbooks.com/r_ram.htm http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ram6.htm

You guys are funny! If he was sneaking around my computer, it would be divorce court. My husband and son are terrified to go near my machines (2). Both are used for work and if things got messed up I'd have to fix it. He obsesses over his photos. He belongs to a photo group which meets weekly and they have competitions. They also display their photos in hospitals and libraries. He's actually sold a bunch (shocked). I have no interest in photos except to look at them. He will spend weeks working on one photo. He's not a photographer, just a hobby which he loves to do. The computer he uses is really a great machine. It has taken such abuse, I still stand in awe that it works. Hubby knows absolutely nothing about computers and doesn't want to. Leaves all the problems for me to fix. He has numerous photo programs on the machine and will have them running at the same time. He uses AOL and his photo buddies will be emailing back and forth sending each other photos to critique. Plus he has Media Player booming with all the flashing colors across the screen (he has 6 speakers hooked up to the computer. He's a classical/ jazz lover and copies music to the computer and also burns CDs. All this is going on while he's working in photoshop. Oh, I forgot Quickbooks, that's always running too. Best part, when he's through for the night, he doesn't shut anything down. He shuts the computer down without closing anything. The computer freezes and stays that way until the next day. Or he does a manual shutdown complaining about the machine. Its truly a sad state of affairs. I've given up on him and leave him to this poor, abused machine. Someone tell me why it still works, buried under the table surrounded by speakers and wires? And I'm thinking of adding Ram... Jane

Two steps backwards, one step forward. While dealing with the impending death of my own pc's hard drive, I had plenty of time to work on her computer. I opened the case. Cleaned out the dust bunnies much more thoroughly than I had in October. I found the fan - and actually took it out and cleaned it thoroughly (mostly compressed air, and a little damp cloth). I did remove the label and add a drop of WD 40. (While I was at it, I searched for replacement fans in case this didn't work - and bookmarked some - it would be so simple to replace if needed.) Put the pieces back together and started it up. Still noisy. I started organizing her files, deleting duplicates and ridiculous things she didn't even know she had on there. I put everything in logical folders - then copied her 16GB of video (Ipod videos and flip share) onto a 32mb flash drive. Deleted 8gb of that video bc. it's also on her ipod. Then I ran auslogics defrag. Defrag was 100% successful - and she now has about 15GB free on a 40GB drive. Now the noise is less. I hear the fan a little - but you have to stop to listen. Not sure if it just took running a little for the oil to do it's thing. From what folks said earlier, it's unlikely that freeing up space and defragging reduced the noise. So far, so good. (I even think I could have turned it on with the case open - but i didn't have to.) Thanks. Lynn.