actually they sent me another 80 gb hard drive and it has the same factory settings that it had before when it came with my pc but i agree by add/removin programs and by going to start then run then type in "msconfig" then go to start up tab and uncheck everythin except ur antivirus and i gurantee it will be faster.

Wait for additional suggests first from other members than consider the below.  You may need some hand holding on what I describe below, since you appear to be new at this. 

 

Dell installs what is called Bloatware on our systems when they are shipped to us, and this garbage many times slows the system down, and causes other problems to our new computer.   Bloatware are programs that are installed to get you to purchase the full version later and other programs that you may or may not ever want.  You can Uninstall any bloatware that you do not need from the Add/Remove program to see if this helps, but my experience with this stuff is just to do a complete Reformat, and Reinstall of windows xp ( Reformat means wiping the hard drive clean, and nothing is left to recover).

 

Yes, this is work, and yes you will loose the Symantec Restore Utility Partition  that you already tried once without success, for ever, but this does clean the system, and your system will be faster with far fewer glitches.  You must have the Operating CD handy, and many of the systems do not come with the Windows XP CD anymore, unless you purchased it for $10 at time of the system purchase, and I can almost bet you did not get this OS CD.  Many have called Dell tech support, and politely requested this OS CD.  Some have had to call more than one tech support in order for them to send you one.   In my opinion, this is the best way to get rid of all that junk.  Others think this would be unwise to loose the Symantec Restore program, but they really don't understand that if you uninstall the junk programs as mentioned above, there are still Registry Codes left behind, and this may/will become problematic.  This is up to you if you know how to Reformat the hard drive, and Reinstall windows.  You must also back up any pictures, music, etc onto a dvd or cdrw.  When you do a Reformat, you loose everything that you installed or downloaded from the internet. 

 

Also, when you boot up the system, you boot up a number of programs that slow the boot up process and they also take memory while they are on and you don't need every program to start up, only the anti virus software and any third party firewall if you have one.  Follow the below instruction on how to disable these programs so they won't start at boot up.  You won't loose these programs, they will still be on the system.

Start Up Programs : Click on START, Click on Run, than put in the box " MSCONFIG ". Click OK. Now you are in the System Configuration Utility Program. Click on START UP on top. Uncheck the programs from here that you do not want to installed at boot up, leaving the anti virus, and any third party firewall on. You can always go back into this program to restart them. They will not be uninstalled. Click on APPLY, than it will ask you if you wish to reboot the system. Do so. After it boots up again, you will be presented with another window from the System Configuration Uitility Program telling you that you have made an adjustment. If you don't want to see this pop up each time you boot up, put a check mark in the little box in the lower left corner of this announcement.

 

Let us know what you want to decide on after everything else fails....  Good luck

I REALLY HOPE SOMEONE AT DELL SEES THIS... I AM IN SHOCK THAT UR CUSTOMER SUPPORT IS THIS BAD I BOUGHT A DELL BECUASE I HAVE AN OLDER SMARTSTEP  THAT HAS NOT LET ME DOWN TO DATE... ANYHOW  I DONT KNOW IF I MENTIONED THIS BEFORE BUT THE LAST PHONE CALL I HAD WITH THE TECH HE TOLD ME IF THE HARD DRIVE SWITCH DID NOT WORK THAT THEY WOULD REPLACE THE COMPUTER.... IT DID NOT WORK  SO I CALL FRIDAY AND TELL THEM AND I GET THE RUN AROUND I WAS PRESSED FOR TIME AND I TOLD THE TECH THAT HE COULD HAVE MY MAILING ADRESS ... HE SAID THAT A UPPER LEVEL SUPERVISOR WOULD CALL ME ON SATURDAY .... GUESS WHAT HAPPENED SATURDAY.... NOTHING .... SO I CALL SUNDAY AND GET ANOTHER TECH THAT WANTS ME TO KEEP RUNNING TESTS I TELL HIM IM NOT A TECH AND AM SICK AND TIERED OF WORKING ON THIS THING HE TELLS ME THAT HE CAN SEND ME ANOTHER HARD DRIVE AND THAT HE IS SURE THAT IT WILL FIX THE PROBLEM... MY QUESTION TO HIM WAS HOW MANY MMORE TIMES WILL I HAVE TO REPLACE OR REFORMAT MY HARD DRIVE BEFORE IT WORKS ... AFTER A HOUR AND A HALF ON THE PHONE AND ME CONSTANTLY REMINDING HIM OF THE PREVIOUS TECH'S WORDS HE TELLS ME THAT THE PERSON THAT CAN DECIDE THIS WILL CALL ME TODAY  ...MONDAY... SORRY AT THIS POINT ITS THE SUPERVISOR ONDUTY I AM TALKING TO  WELL ITS  10:31 PM MONDAY NIGHT AND UMMMMMM NO PHONE CALL ... SO I WAS TOLD ONE THING AND ITS NOT HAPPENING ACTUALLY THATS THREE TIMES  TWO MISSED PHONE CALLS AND THEM NOT WANTING TO HONOR WHAT THE TECH TOLD ME ..... BEFORE I HUNG UP I GAVE HIM 2 SIMPLE OPTIONS A BOX WITH A NEW COMPUTER OR A EMPTY BOX AND A REFUND WITHIN A WEEK... I WONDER HOW LONG BEFORE I GET A CALL