4 GIGS really make a difference over 2 GIGS w/Win7 ?

New to me Samsung laptop with Win7, Celeron and only 2 GIGS memory. What it does not want to do is more then 2-3 things at a time before it locks up (stops working). Hell my XP desktop could do 10 things at a time

Local tech is gonna stick in another 2 GIGS tomorrow to see

Live a little, try Linux. Unless you're using proprietary software that requires a Windows machine or are a heavy gamer there are no downsides. The Operating System is free as are programs for just about any purpose that you can imagine.
I would recommend either Ubuntu or Mint. Both are user friendly and very attractive. If your equipment is marginal there are lightweight versions of both. They can be installed in various ways which may, or may not, include your current Windows OS.
I currently have Ubuntu 14.04/Win 7 dual boot desktop computer. I will soon be deleting Win 7 from my laptop computer and going to Mint 17.1 only on it.

First I'm not going to toss a good copy of Win7 Pro. I'm sure there's a way to improve it ..... and I do use certain MS only programs

I won't put Linux down because 20 years ago I was in some of the first distribution channels. Back when installation was done from boot floppy and you had to configure what you wanted from the other 30-35 disks. Each of those many disks was distributed (via Internet Newsgroups or email) as a binary in text format that needed to be written to floppy with a special program.

I've tried the newer stuff (2003-2004) that you can write to CD and they are very cool. I just don't have time to play with stuff like I used to

Sparks, it may be something else... I'm running Win7 laptop with 2GB with no problems. If it's 'new to you', maybe it needs Win7 refresh or ?Also, my experience is that the Celeron chip is a dog but that shouldn't make it completely die, just be sluggish.

I'm just guessing that it is running out of memory because it's fine without many browser windows open and no other programs. Five windows open, a folder or 2 and a text editor and it just stops responding. The WIN7 is a new install from Spanish to English as of 2 weeks ago

sparks wrote:I'm just guessing that it is running out of memory because it's fine without many browser windows open and no other programs. Five windows open, a folder or 2 and a text editor and it just stops responding. The WIN7 is a new install from Spanish to English as of 2 weeks ago

Click on the start logo (bottom left) and type "msconfig" in the little box at the bottom

hit "enter" and choose "start up" from the menu

Then go down the list and kill some of the startup programs that you use only occasionally.

Look for programs and leave anything with Microsoft or Celeron alone and see what happens.

If the computer needs them, it will go get them as needed.

More and more if you download a program, it will go infest the startup menu and slow things down.

A couple more gigs of memory would probably help because the programs have gotten so big and sloppy they are memory hogs. Programs like Microsoft Word have gotten huge with all their options.

You can download a program "Speccy" for free and it will tell you what memory you have and the usage.

Memory is pretty cheap and any of the computer stores can get it and install it for you.

Gone are the days when 128K was a tremendous amount of memory

I built my first 8086 machine as a kit from Heath Zenith and it came with 64k. I then bought a 256k expansion board for an astounding 320.

Had to buy an extra 360 floppy to save MS Word files. Text based Word took up the whole 360 it was on and locked with a TAB cover.  By the time I wanted to really do something 286's came along with hard drives.  Wow

Laptop with 4 gigs went from 190+/- to 264 and made a very small difference in performance. It seems some Celerons can use 64bit SW and some can't. Mine supposedly can but that will be another 350 pesos and still unsure of the improvement with 4gigs. Can handle up to 16gigs but that is a lot more money

Think I'll stick with this for awhile