RAM recognition issue

[Paul Digges]

I'm having problems with my PC recognizing all 8 gigs of my RAM. My Computer shows 8gb with some notation about 4gb usable, and when I fire up AE CS4 it only recognizes 4gb. So upon searching here, I've found that despite being 64bit, Win 7 limits the RAM it'll utilize based off what version you have (totally lame IMO) anyhow, my 7 Home Premium according to Microsoft should utilize a max of 8gb, before needing to go Professional or Ultimate.

Also, doing some more searching led me to going into MSConfig and the boot tab and setting my Max Memory to 8gb as well.

Now I could just be completely mistaken here, but AE CS4 can use 8gb correct? Or does the software in addition to the OS have to be 64bit? I'm confused as my computer sees 8gb but is telling me it's only using 4gb, and AE is only using 4 as well.

Blah, sorry for the long post, but I want to make sure I have all the bases covered here.

Thanks in advance,
Paul