The amount of disk space and memory that PCs need to function quickly and efficiently is always increasing. While there are options for increasing the RAM and hard drive capacities of your PC to both increase disk space and increase speed, Microsoft has developed a handy and less expensive option for increasing your PC’s speed with the ReadyBoost tool.

Introduced with the Vista operating system and also available on the new 7 operating system, ReadyBoost allows Windows users to utilize space from external hard drives to increase the speed of their PCs. If you use one of these operating systems and frequently experience slow processing speeds you will want to learn how to use this great new tool!

How ReadyBoost Works

ReadyBoost allows your PC to use disk space from an external disk drive such as a USB stick or external hard drive to perform disk reads. This can increase your PC’s speed up to 100 times depending on the amount of space that is available on the external drive you are using. In general, it is usually a good idea to only use devices that have at least twice the available space on them as the amount of RAM you have on your computer to get any results.

Using ReadyBoost to Speed up your PC

To use the ReadyBoost feature of Windows Vista or 7

1. Plug an external drive or memory card into an available USB drive of your computer.


2. The AutoPlay window will automatically open if it is set to do that.


3. In the General options, click Speed up my System.


4. Once the Properties window opens, click the ReadyBoost tab. From here you can turn this feature on or off, and select the amount of dick space to use for this function.

1. To turn ReadyBoost off, click Do not use this Device.


2. To use the maximum available space on the device for ReadyBoost click Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost. This will not affect any files you may have saved on this device, but will use all the remaining space to speed up your PC.


3. To use only a percentage of available space on the device for ReadyBoost, click Use this Device, and then using the slider, choose the amount of space on the device you want to use.


4. Click OK.

ReadyBoost is just one of the ways that you can use to speed up your computer’s processing speed, but it is definitely one of the most simple!

It is also important to note that not all external disk drives are compatible with this function. Most new devices will offer this function, but the easiest way to tell if your device is ReadyBoost compatible is to simply plug it in your PC. If the options shown here are not available in the AutoPlay dialog box, then your device is not compatible.