To optimize her laptop's performance, what should Joyce do when running multiple applications?

Increasing the RAM on Joyce's laptop is a highly effective way to optimize its performance, especially when running multiple applications simultaneously. RAM, or Random Access Memory, is crucial for enabling a computer to manage multiple tasks at once. When Joyce runs several applications, they all consume memory. If the available RAM is insufficient, the system can become sluggish as it tries to allocate resources.

With more RAM, Joyce's laptop can better handle multiple processes without resorting to using the hard drive for temporary storage, which is significantly slower. This upgrade allows for smoother multitasking, faster application loading times, and an overall more responsive user experience.

In contrast, reducing the number of applications running might alleviate some strain on the system, but it doesn't address the underlying hardware limitations. Similarly, clearing the browser cache can help free some storage but is less impactful on overall performance when multiple applications are in play. Upgrading the hard disk drive could improve load times for data retrieval but wouldn’t directly enhance the capability to run multiple applications simultaneously as effectively as adding more RAM would.