Bad memory can manifest itself in anything from frequent error messages and crashes to your system simply not starting. Errors in your computers memory (RAM) aren't always consistent, either; they can be intermittent and can get worse over time.
You can hide certain types of icons in Control Panel's Classic View with a quick Registry hack. Just open the Registry Editor, and expand the branches to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\don't load\.
Windows Vista animates almost every visual component that makes up its sparkling new interface. While these affectations may be cute, they create two performance problems. For one, they slow down the motion, causing windows, menus, and listboxes to take longer to open and close, all of which makes your PC feel sluggish. Second, they consume CPU cycles that would otherwise be used to handle processor-intensive tasks like virtual memory and gameplay.