Crucial Memory Scanner

[GeoffF100]

The BIOS should tell you what motherboard you have and what memory is installed. Look up the motherboard or model number of your computer with Google to find the memory specification. I found out last week, when diagnosing a problem on a friend's PC, that booting from a Lubuntu ISO gives a memory check option that displays make and model of the memory modules installed. It may also not be difficult to take the modules out and have a look. The Crucial website sometimes gives ridiculous answers for compatible memory modules.

[swill453]

Should run pretty well on 4GB. If not, probably needs a good spring clean (or re-install, if easier).

Scott.

[GeoffF100]

My machine has 4gb installed. According to Mr Memory, I can't have anymore because of my W7 32 bit operating system.

You can put more on, but 32 bit Windows 7 would not use it. Provided you have a 64 bit processor, you could access more by installing 64 bit Windows (£££) or Linux (free). However, with a lightweight version of Linux, like Lubuntu, 2 GB is plenty for everyday purposes.

[Infrasonic]

Should run pretty well on 4GB. If not, probably needs a good spring clean (or re-install, if easier).

Scott.

I'd agree with this, with the addition that if you still have a steam driven HDD as the boot drive put an SSD in and stand back as the speed differential wows you... I've done it twice now and it made a real difference on a 4460 i5 Lenovo machine with 8GB RAM and an older Pentium dual core e550 HP box with 3GB RAM.

If you have the SATA ports to spare (4 is common) then keep the old HDD and just clone or clean install the OS onto the SSD.
Clean is better but it might take a while unless you are super organised in advance with regard to apps/settings back ups et al.

I think you can still upgrade from W7 to W10 for free, even if officially it has stopped (if that appeals.)
Bree is the resident expert on this and the myriad variations.

[Infrasonic]

I think you can still upgrade from W7 to W10 for free, even if officially it has stopped

Hunting around, various places seem to confirm this. Would an upgrade to W10 make any difference to the speed?

I was thinking more in terms of exploiting the 64 bit architecture of your PC if it has it. I never used W7, went from XP to a brand new W10 machine (actually a W7/W10 factory upgrade which I then clean installed with W10 onto a new SSD 'C' drive) so others will have to comment.

Maybe run it dual/multi boot with both W7 and W10 for a bit see to how you get on. If you do it the right way you should be able to get the free W10 upgrade whilst retaining W7 as a bootable option, again Bree is the one to comment on all this.

[Breelander]

I think you can still upgrade from W7 to W10 for free, even if officially it has stopped (if that appeals.)
Bree is the resident expert on this and the myriad variations.

Yes, you can still upgrade an activated Windows 7/8/8.1 to Windows 10. It will activate with a Digital Licence for W10 tied to the hardware of the PC and stored on Microsoft's activation servers. Whether you get Home or Pro depends on the edition of Win7 you upgrade, only Win7 Ultimate and Win7 Pro will get Win10 Pro, the rest get Home.

But a W10 upgrade won't solve the problem of using more that 4GB RAM. You cannot upgrade a 32-bit system to a 64-bit system. 64-bit Windows (7 or 10) would have to be a clean install, so you'd loose all your installed apps (eg. MS Office and any 3rd-party software).

Maybe run it dual/multi boot with both W7 and W10 for a bit see to how you get on. If you do it the right way you should be able to get the free W10 upgrade whilst retaining W7 as a bootable option, again Bree is the one to comment on all this.

I don't do 'dual boot', so I'm on shakier ground here. What I can say is that according to the EULA you should use a separate licence for each installed copy of Windows on your PC, even if you only run them one at a time. You have the one licence to run 'Windows' (currently W7). This can be upgraded to W10 and get a Digital Licence. You could then reinstall W7 and legally run that, or stick with W10. Legally, dual boot means dual licences are required.

What I would do in your place would be to first of all to make a system image of your Windows 7 PC, stored on an external HDD. Macrium Reflect Free is one of the best tools for this.

You're probably going to run the Win10 install a few time if you follow my suggestions, so I'd download the Media Creation Tool, run it and chose 'Make media for another PC'. You can then make a USB that contains both the 32 & 64 bit setup files for Windows 10. If you need to use a DVD rather than a USB, use the MCT to make two separate ISOs for 32 & 64 bits. The 32+64 ISO requires a dual layer DVD to fit it all on, while each separate ISO will fit on a standard DVD.

If you have a spare HDD, all the better. I would swap out the current W7 drive, put the spare in its place, boot from the Macrium recovery media (CD/DVD or USB) and restore your system image to the blank HDD. Then you can upgrade this working copy of your 32-bit system to 32-bit Windows 10 to earn a Digital Licence for your PC. A Digital licence is only valid for one Edition (Home or Pro) but it is valid for both 32 and 64 bit installs.

Once Settings > Update & Security > Activation says 'Windows is activated with a digital licence' you are good to go. You could now restore your Windows 7 image (again) and install 64-bit Windows 10 along side it as dual boot (or wipe the disk and do a clean install of 64-bit W10 if you prefer). When asked for a key, click the 'I don't have a product key' link near the bottom of that window. Choose the same edition as the one you got from upgrading (Home or Pro). As soon as it can connect to the internet it will activate from the Digital Licence on the activation servers.


All this time you'll have your original Windows 7 HDD safely put to one side so you can go back to it any time you want.

[vrdiver]

are there any other memory scanners to be recommended?

I use "speccy" from piriform to get a hardware report of my machine. The free version gives me enough info: https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy/download

e.g.

RAM
32.0GB Unknown @ 1066MHz (15-15-15-36)

Free memory slots 4
Memory
Type Unknown
Size 32768 MBytes
DRAM Frequency 1066.1 MHz
CAS# Latency (CL) 15 clocks
RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD) 15 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 15 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) 36 clocks
Command Rate (CR) 2T
Physical Memory
Memory Usage 36 %
Total Physical 32 GB
Available Physical 20 GB
Total Virtual 37 GB
Available Virtual 22 GB
SPD
Number Of SPD Modules 4
Slot #1
Type Unknown
Size 8192 MBytes
Manufacturer Micron Technology
Max Bandwidth DDR4-2132 (1066 MHz)
Part Number 16ATF1G64AZ-2G1A1
Serial Number 222984426
Week/year 38 / 14
Timing table
Frequency CAS# Latency RAS# To CAS# RAS# Precharge tRAS tRC Voltage
JEDEC #1 666.7 MHz 9.0 9 9 22 31 1.200 V
JEDEC #2 814.8 MHz 11.0 11 11 27 38 1.200 V
JEDEC #3 888.9 MHz 12.0 12 12 30 42 1.200 V
JEDEC #4 963.0 MHz 13.0 13 13 32 45 1.200 V
JEDEC #5 1037.0 MHz 14.0 14 14 35 49 1.200 V
JEDEC #6 1066.1 MHz 15.0 15 15 36 50 1.200 V
JEDEC #7 1066.1 MHz 16.0 15 15 36 50 1.200 V
JEDEC #8 1066.1 MHz 18.0 15 15 36 50 1.200 V
JEDEC #9 1066.1 MHz 19.0 15 15 36 50 1.200 V

etc.!

It also reports on the motherboard, CPU(s), Operating system, graphics cards (if present) storage (SSD, HDD etc) network connection etc. etc.

VRD

[Infrasonic]

...I don't do 'dual boot', so I'm on shakier ground here. What I can say is that according to the EULA you should use a separate licence for each installed copy of Windows on your PC, even if you only run them one at a time. You have the one licence to run 'Windows' (currently W7). This can be upgraded to W10 and get a Digital Licence. You could then reinstall W7 and legally run that, or stick with W10. Legally, dual boot means dual licences are required...

I run both the SSD upgraded machines I did as multi boot (1 clean 1 cloned), but crucially they are both running W10 on each drive C/D, W7 isn't in the picture at all, (the W10 digital licence seems more forgiving.)

No problems doing that, despite warnings of armageddon on other web boards.

The only issue is if you boot from the D 'backup' to update the OS or apps then the drive letters will switch around automatically and the next time you boot from C (as was) it will be really slow as it sorts out the MBR.
Naming the drives (SSD/HDD) sorts out any confusion and minimising 'D' boots stops the slowdowns. I boot from D once or twice a year only now.
I run the previous major iteration of W10 as the D backup until just before the next major update, when I upgrade it to the current, so when C upgrades D is still one behind. D is set to metered so it can't auto update.

(Linus Tech tips did a video recently as they run W10 test bench hardware where components are continually being swapped out.The results aren't consistent wrt to maxing out hardware swaps v license depletion, well done MS! Their solution is to run inactivated W10 on test rigs... )

[Breelander]

...they are both running W10 on each drive C/D, W7 isn't in the picture at all, (the W10 digital licence seems more forgiving.)

AIUI, from the activation point of view there is no problem running dual boot Win7+Win10 or dual boot W10+W10. All I was pointing out is that to comply with the EULA each OS should have it's own separate licence. I don't think there's any actual enforcement of this, just a moral obligation.

You can install dual boot W10+W10 and, provided they are both the edition (Home or Pro) for which the PC has a digital licence, they will both activate from the one digital licence. Strictly speaking, Microsoft says you should have bought another licence to install the second W10, but there doesn't appear to be a way for the activation servers to tell if you have or not.

The same applies to dual boot W7+W10 where the digital licence for W10 was derived by upgrading the original W7 - its technically still the same licence.