I have a computer with 4 Gigabytes of memory but Windows Vista says I only have 3, why is that?

With the way that Windows Vista is written, if you have a 32bit version of Windows it can not see more than 3 gigabytes of RAM.

If you had a 64bit version of Windows Vista it can clearly see all the memory your computer has installed, unfortunately most people do not have the components or the money to get the 64bit version.

Luckily Microsoft has found out about this problem and has released a solution. 

If you have not already got it installed on your computer you can get Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista from Microsoft.

The easiest way to download the new service pack is to click on your start button.

If you don't see "Windows Update" on the menu click in the area that has "Start Search" and type "windows Update".

Once you have "Windows Update" in the start menu click on it to bring up the Windows Update screen.

Click on "Veiw available updates" to see if Microsoft has sent your computer details on how to download Service Pack 1. 

If Service Pack 1 does not appear in the list you will have to download it manually.

Go to this link to download Service Pack 1 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.asp. It will ask you for Internet Explorer.

Click on the Download button.

The download is nearly 500 megabytes so it will take a while to download.

Once it is done open the file you downloaded, follow the prompts and leave the computer to install the update. It might take close to an hour.

Once you have done that you computer will be able to see all of its memory.