Thanks guys

yeah I have 8 memory slots [only 1 being used]

4 for dimm
and
4 for simm

 I have a 512mb stick in the dimm one.

also my motherboard specs indicate I can have up to 2 gigabytes

hopefully I will just get another 512mb stick and hope it works in tandom
with my other 512mb installed.  hope there are no parity issues. my pc was
purchased in 2003... not terribly old pc hehe...but uhm yeah.. and it will be a
present to me.

we do have a frys electronics in the bay area, so I will relay this info to my brother.

and uhm about virtual memory settings.  I use win xp pro ~ what is a good setting?

my hard drives
C: 80 gigs [21 gigs free]
E: 60 gigs [34 gigs free]
F: 40 gigs [12 gigs free]

can I allow xp to swap to another hard drive rather than keep on my boot drive [c:] ?