Can you up the ram on a Model No. P2-1343w desktop?

[Alyssa_Fawn]

My computer runs pretty slow so I want to up the ram so it can run programs better. Is it possible to increase it? And if so is there a way to do it without bringing it to a shop?

[itsmyname]

My first upgrade would be to replace any "spinning" disk-drive by a SSD (Solid State Device), to make all disk input/output much faster. 

Free software, such as "Macrium Reflect", can "clone" your existing disk-drive onto the new SSD, if you are comfortable with opening-up the desktop's case, and temporarily connecting the new SSD, and eventually removing the current disk-drive, and permanently booting from the SSD.  If you are not comfortable with doing such hardware upgrades, seek professional help (or help from a technophile-friend).

[WAWood]

@Alyssa_Fawn 

While I commend @itsmyname for suggesting an SSD upgrade -- I am concerned that your PC is running "real slow". 

That issue is often caused by a failing drive, and while an SSD would work around that, if the drive really is failing, you will have problems cloning it using MR, as that might run into read errors in the process.

So, let's check the drive first.

If your PC is new enough to support UEFI, you can use these steps to test the hard drive: http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00439024

If not, to check the drive you have to follow these steps:
1) Press Esc key repeatedly, several times a second, while rebooting the laptop. Do NOT hold the key down, just press it over and over.
2) Eventually, you will see an HP Startup Menu
3) Press the Function key for testing the hard drive (usually F2) and let it run.
If the drive checks out OK, then report that and I can provide you options for reinstalling Windows on your PC.

Also, adding more RAM is not going to increase the performance any noticeable amount -- replacing the HDD with an SSD is going to get you much more benefit for the dollar in terms of performance improvement.

[itsmyname]

>  if the drive really is failing, you will have problems cloning it using MR ...

You "will" have problems, or you "may" have problems ?

Macrium Reflect will not "write" to your current disk-drive -- it just needs to "read" from it. Possibly, while "writing" will be problematic, any "reading" will be successful. 

Note that M.R. does an "intelligent" copy -- it does not try to copy any "unused" sectors on your current disk-drive.  So, if there are sectors that are both "bad" and "unused", M.R. will not try to access them.

Independently, download and install the free version of the SPECCY software.  Yes, it will write to your disk-drive.  If you have a second disk-drive in your computer,  or can temporarily add one, you can download the software to the second disk-drive, and "install" it to the second disk-drive, and then "run" the software from the second disk-drive.  Or, it should be possible to download/install/run from a USB memory-stick, to minimize the disk-drive activity.

When you run it, expand that "Storage" branch, and look for the S.M.A.R.T. section. The disk-drive has been monitoring itself, and SPECCY will report on the "health" of the disk-drive. Any value like "Warning" or "Bad" beside any of the statistics will strongly imply that your disk-drive is failing.

P.S. If your current computer has 4 GB of RAM, or more, then adding RAM is probably NOT going to provide any performance increase. Also, if you have the 32-bit version of Windows, you're stuck, because the 32-bit version can only use the first 3.20 GB of RAM, no matter how much RAM is installed.