Random Access Memory (RAM)

Before I get into other apps every system should have, I just wanted to add this piece of information as a result of a demo I witnessed the other day by the techies at Kingston Technology.

Kingston is the largest independent fabricator of system memory modules (RAM). You might be familiar with internal/external disc drives, USBs or memory cards (SD, SDHC, etc.) from other fabricators like SanDisk. They are not the same thing.

At the very beginning of this blog I said, "You can never have enough RAM." The reason is simple: new applications requiere ever increasing amounts of RAM to function properly. Even if can't use all your RAM capacity now, sooner or later, you'll need it.

RAM is volatile memory. It's not meant to store anything; when you turn off your computer, everything you have in RAM is lost. It's a temporary workspace applications use to access frequently used data.


Having said that, the other day the nice people of Kingston performed a demo of their latest RAM module: HyperX DDR3. RAM, like every other technology, has evolved. The very first computers (IBM PC, Apple IIe, Amiga) had 8-16KB RAM, a far cry from the 8GB systems of today. However, today's memory modules are not backward compatible with previous versions. In other words, DDR1 is not compatible with DDR2 which is not compatible with DDR3.

The first thing you notice about the new HyperX is its heat dissipator. It's huge! And that can only mean one thing: it generates a lot of heat. But that's not a bad thing because that also means it's fast. In fact, the whole demo centered around HyperX's capacity for overclocking. In plain English, the user's choice to configure data transfer between RAM and application faster and beyond its intended limits. Techies do this with resource-hungry video games to minimize or eliminate frame by frame latency and is configured from the system's BIOS. What this all boils down to is: if it's capable of seamlessly handling the most resource-hungry video games, it's capable of handling even your most demanding mission critical applications.

I can't give you all the technical details of how RAM works or the specs of HyperX, but Kingston's website does a good job of explaining the development and evolution of RAM modules with this Ultimate Memory Guide.

Try and Decide


OK. After a much deserved break, I'm back. That trouble with the IRS, as it turns out, was just a hoax. I got all riled up over nothing. Still, work committments have kept me from updating my blog and I must apologize for that. So, let's get back to where we left off.


Try and Decide is a neat little function in Acronis True Image Home 2009 that allows you to test a potentially dangerous application (drivers, apps, updates, upgrades, etc.) before you actually install it on your system.

Try and Decide creates a virtual workspace which isolates systems resources during the testing process. All the user has to do is click on the Try and Decide function from True Image Home's main menu, click on the 'play' button and the computer automatically enters into virtual mode.

Not sure of your latest P2P client, mp3 download or website? Go ahead and try/install it within Try and Decide. If the client, file or program is infected with any sort of trojan or malware, it won't affect your system. Try and Decide allows you to check on program compatibility. When you click on the 'pause' or 'stop' button, your system reverts back to its normal state and you can then discard the infected application.

Try and Decide works within Acronis Secure Zone (ASZ), that disk partition True Image advises you to create upon startup. However, I noticed that Try and Decide tends to use up a lot of the space reserved for ASZ, meaning that you may not have enough space left over for your backup chores. Because of this, I have since opted to save my backup chores on a separate disk partition, a purely arbitrary decision designed to minimize having to manage space requirements.

Next up: More apps you can't do without

Time out

A thousand apologies...I know I've been remiss in my blog duties but I have a damn good reason for it.

It tax time once again and I just found out I have to pay a bunch of taxes this year because of capital gains. Plus, I have a Hacienda (IRS equivalent in Spain) audit this Monday. Now I don't know about you folks but I HATE having to pay taxes to any government, especially this one. My hard earned money is just gonna end up in the pockets of some crooked socialist politician. I'm an anarchist at heart and I detest any kind of government intervention on private personal gains. I pay more than enough with social security and taxes withheld at source. Why can't they leave me the damn hell alone?

So it was off to the shrink and anti-depressants for me. SIGH......

I promise to be back after my audit next week. Thank you for your understanding.