Dnt forget the basics too
defrag, scan disk/clean disk, check out these articles for some great tips
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.c...id=1590&page=1

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.c...id=1681&page=1

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Good advice from the group so far.. I'd bet that you have a few things running that shouldn't be: that windows XP SP2 takes about 1 hour to download from microsoft and about 45 minutes to install.. nothing else should be going on during this time. In addition, you probably have a bunch of spyware/virii on your PC - the adaware software and AVG virus scanner (both free) will clean that up for you.

With 1GB of memory.. things should be running quicker for you. But.. your Hard Drive speed and defrag status will also make a difference. 7200 rpm drives are a must! Also, defrag the drive and run scandisk to be sure things are as clean as can be.

You shoulld also check to be sure that Windows is managing the virtual memory for you.. this can be checked by right-clicking your computer icon on the desktop and going to properties and see how virutal memory is handled.

Good luck!

Another spyware program you might want to check out is Spybot Search and Destroy. Not only does it check for spyware, but you can use it to check out which programs your computer runs every time you start up, and disable the nonessential ones. Combined with Ad Aware, AVG and regular defragging, this helps my computer run as smoothly as possible. Another option for virus protection is the free online scan from pandasoftware