Is your new windows home server running a little slow? Take it apart! Nothing better than a little ram to stop your disk thrashing. Follow this 12 step program for recovering server purchasers and the additional memory will let you kick it up a notch with things like sharepoint server 3 and other neat features.

Step ZERO: Go by some RAM. A 2G stick is very nice and helps a LOT. It is DDR2-5300. Mine cost $69.

Step ONE: Should use choose to accept. Go find yourself a very very small phillips screwdriver. You will also need a somewhat larger one. The reason you need the tiny one is those screws on the right of the cage with the lock. You need to unscrew them carefully as they are soft metal and may strip out.

Step TWO, Pull out those hard drives. You will need to pull all the hard drives out of the cage so go ahead and do that now. Note that the plastic is a bit cheap so if you get violent you will pay the price.

Step THREE: As you can see in the below. Now that we loosened the tiny screws, removed the front cage, and pulled out a couple hard drives we are making great progress.

Step FOUR: See that little nub in the top of the case (in the center)? Take your teeny tiny Philips screw driver and push on the plastic bit. You should be able to slide the plastic lid off by pulling the entire lid forward.

Step FIVE: You did great getting the lid off. Now you can see that there are a couple blue tabs that need to be rotated. You need to rotate them in order to pull the PCB up (so you can slide the guts of the server out. Turn those blue tabs (inwards)

Step SIX: Note the turned inwards blue tabs. Also, you want to unplug the little wire harnesses (three of them). Be gentle and try to grab the housing, not the wires, when you pull.

Step SEVEN: Note the wiring harnesses that are now separated. At this point you can stick your hand in the spot where the hard drives were. You should be able to feel one of the holes in that vertical PCB. Just push upwards to slide it up out of its based on the main server board.

Step EIGHT: See the holes? No ICs to speak of on this board but it is still nice to not just lay it on the carpet so it can get gunk on it and break your computer.

Step NINE: There are two more screws to go and you will be able to pull the memory out. They should be obvious but just in case they are not. The two screws are directly attached to that power supply flanges (on either side). One is somewhat recessed so you need to stick your finger down there and hold onto the screw.

Step TEN: YAY! We now have the computer pulled out. Note the memory stick on the side.

Step ELEVEN, this part is pretty straightforward. Just pull down on the two tabs next to the stick of memory and it should lever upwards. Replace with your huge new stick of RAM for lasting enjoyment of high speed serving.

Step TWELVE, come on, you can remember how you took it apart... right?