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Check the performance of your computer
Before buying an antivirus program, you should check the specification and performance of the computer to see that the program you are considering will run on it.
To check the Windows version, amount of memory (RAM) and processor speed
Go to Control Panel, System, or right-click Computer/My Computer on the Start Menu or Desktop, then click Properties:
With Windows XP, you will see the box below, showing details of the Windows Version and the processor speed/amount of memory. The system shown below is 32-bit; a 64-bit version would say "x64 Edition".
With Windows Vista or Windows 7, you will see this:
To check whether you have a single, dual or quad-core processor
Right-click Computer/My Computer and then click Manage. In the Computer Management window, click Device Manager in the left-hand pane. Then, in the right-hand pane, click the plus sign or arrow just to the left of Processors. You then just count the number of processors that appear! The picture below shows a dual-core processor (it might actually be two completely separate processors, but for our purposes, there's no difference).
