you might want to try disc cleaner - xp and vista have them (just search under system tools)... and then download a registry cleaner from the internet - i've found ccleaner is a good one. Of course - tracking cookies can also slow your computer down. Yahoo toolbar has a antispy thing, and it's the best that i've seen. good luck!

If your are sure on the virus and spyware, mal-ware and rootkits then you need to run a little housekeeping, cookies, history, defrag etc and registry repair. Here are instructions on 2 programs that work well, plus how to defrag and how to reset msconfig. IE PRIVACY KEEPER DOWNLOAD WHEN YOU TYPE WWW.SNAPFILES.COM IN YOUR YAHOO SEARCH BOX THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL SEE WHEN IT OPENS Snapfiles - software reviews, download freeware and trial programs - CLICK 1. WHEN THE PAGE OPENS LOOK FOR A TAB AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE THAT SAYS FREEWARE - CLICK 2. WHEN PAGE OPENS SCROLL DOWN AND FIND INTERNET CLEANUP TOOLS - CLICK 3. WHEN PAGE OPENS SCROLL DOWN TILL YOU SEE THE PROGRAM SHOULD BE LIKE ABOUT THE 14TH ONE DOWN - CLICK THE BLUE DOWNLOAD BUTTON FILE SIZE IS 1128kb 4. NEXT PAGE OPENS IF DOWNLOAD DOESN’T START LOOK FOR A LIGHT YELLOW BAR AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE, CLICK THE OPTION TO ALLOW TO OPEN, USUALLY HAS TO DO WITH ACTIVE X ***NOTE If for some reason still doesn’t start click the blue words click here they are in the middle of the page in tan box. 5. WHEN THE BOX OPENS SAVE TO DESKTOP OR MY DOCUMENTS, OPEN AND RUN FROM THERE. GLARYULITILIES DOWNLOAD GO TO www.pcworld.com 1. WHEN PAGE OPENS TYPE IN THE SEARCH BOX - REGISTRY REPAIR PROGRAMS - CLICK GO 2. LIST WILL OPEN, SELECT THE SECOND ONE - GLARY REGISTRY REPAIR (ITS FREE) CLICK IT 3. NEXT PAGE, YOU WILL SEE A RED ARROR AND DOWNLOAD NOW IN BLUE WORDS - CLICK 1.30MB 4. NEXT PAGE BLUE BOX DOWNLOAD FREE REGISTRY REPAIR NOW- YOU CAN CLICK HERE BUT REAL SLOW (works on 98, XP, ME, 2000, 2003, Vista) just not 64 bit supported 5. For a faster download click where it says - mirror here 6. NEXT PAGE IF IT DOES NOT START IN 5 SEC LOOK FOR A SECURITY BAR, WHICH IS LIGHT YELLOW AT TOP OF PAGE, CLICK THE OPTION TO ALLOW IF FOR SOME REASON IT STILL DOESN’T USE THIS OPTION: LOOK FOR THE LINE THAT READS CLICK HERE IF IT DOES NOT 7. BOX OPENS SAVE TO DESKTOP OR TO MY DOCUMENTS AND OPEN AND RUN FROM THERE DISK DEFRAGMENTER XP 1. START 2.ACCESSORIESS 3. SYSTEM TOOLS 4. DISK DEFRAGMENTER 5. CLICK THE BUTTON THAT SAYS ANALYZE 6. THE PROGRAM WILL THEN ANALYZE TO SEE IF COMPUTER NEEDS TO BE DEFRAGGED, A BOX WILL COME UP SAYS YES OR NO TELLING WHAT IT NEEDS. JUST CLICK IT. 7. IF YES, THEN JUST WATCH IT DO ITS THING, IT NEEDS no HELP FROM YOU, DEPENDING ON HOW BAD COMPUTER IS OUT OF ORDER, COULD BE 10 MINS OR 2 TO 3 IT WILL STOP ON ITS OWN AND THEN YOU CAN SEE RESULTS AND CLOSE PROGRAM. ** Even though it says defrag is not needed do it any way!! XP MSCONFIG (RESETTING START UP ORDER) 1. START 2. RUN 3.TYPE IN - msconfig 4. WHEN THE BOX COMES UP CLICK THE START UP TAB 5. THESE ARE THE PROGRAM THAT ARE ALL TRYING TO OPEN WHEN PC FIRST COMES ON 6. YOU WILL SEE A LOT OF ITEMS WITH BOXES WITH CHECK MARKS IN THEM, IN GENERAL THE ONLY ONES YOU NEED ARE: THE ONES FOR VIRUS & SPYWARE PROGRAMS SUCH AS AVG, SPYBOT ETC. *** If this a laptop turn a few items at a time off, you have to be a little more careful as you need touchpad, monitor etc. by default xp will not let you turn off any thing that will harm PC, it will come right back on. 7. CLICK APPLY AND OK AND THEN COMPUTER WILL REBOOT AND A MESSAGE WILL TELL ABOUT THE FACT YOU HAVE RESET MSCONFIG, JUST PUT CHECK MARK IN THE BOX AND CLICK OK AND YOUR DONE. THIS WILL SPEED UP HOW FAST YOUR COMPUTER BOOTS UP! **** **** If for some reason there’s a problem and you need to turn ever thing back on just go back to run- msconfig- startup-enable all- apply and ok System will reboot and see#7above and your back to normal.

1. disk clean up 2. disk de-frag 3. registry cleaner 4. if all the above fail try deleting to free up some more hard drive space and try remove / uninstall old programs you dont need anymore. try download a freeware program called ccleaner - its very good

Your hard drive may be full. Go to "computer" and click on your hard drive, usually displayed as "C" Drive. It may be full to capacity. Without knowing what programs, or clean up utilities your using, if any, it's hard to know for sure. But the main culprit, if your not infected with a virus, is usually the hard drive. Or maybe you need more memory. If you have less than 512 mb that could very well be the problem.