Using Windows ReadyBoost to speed up your computer

Windows ReadyBoost started a few years ago and is available on Windows Vista and Windows 7.  It is designed to use the extra space on your flash drive as an extra drive for disk cache.  If you don't have much ram on your computer and you have an extra flash drive laying around, this is a good way to help speed up your computer.  When you plug your usb into your computer Windows will determine if your flash drive is capable of working with ReadyBoost.  Here is how it is done:

It is very simple to get ReadyBoost up and running on your computer.  

Simply locate your flash drive under My Computer and right click on it.

Click Properties on the drop down list.

Next, navigate to the ReadyBoost tab.  Your screen should look like the one below.  Make sure the Use this device option is checked and then slide the bar to how much space you want to use for Readyboost.  I have mine set to all of the free space that is left on my flash drive.

You may have to come back to these options and turn ReadyBoost temporarily off if you plan on using your flashdrive for storage.  Then, starting it again when you add files to it and re-sizing the Readyboost file again.