Personal Computing For Dumbasses
and Business majors. Oh wait...
RAM
Random Access Memory serves the purpose of short term memory. Only the most immediate bits of information remain in this type of memory, and it gets discarded when no electricity is running through it.
The easiest way to remember what RAM does is to think of it as a desk- or tabletop. A small desk [Fig. A] will handle a light load of programs, files, processes, et cetera quite well, though it doesn't really leave much room for anything else. Each sheet of paper is a simulation of a process. You open up Outlook Express, you started a process. Log on to the internet and open up Internet Explorer, AOL Instant Messenger, and Kazaa, you started 3 processes. Each of those takes up space on your tabletop, represented by the sheet of paper.
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