What is the CPU speed and RAM on that puppy?

I don't know what the break even speed was, but I noticed a slowdown on my 550 desktop when I installed XP.

Intel Celeron 2.40Ghz
512mb RAM

With 2.40Ghz and 512Mb RAM, there's plenty to run XP. What I suggest is running Disk Cleanup from Accessories/System tools and, when it's done its job, checking that there are no files left over 2 days old in any temp directory. Cut and paste these into the search box: *.tmp; ~*.*; *.gid; *.old; *.bak

XP has a horrible habit of hanging on to tmp files and these do cause problems. Delete any over 2 days old.

The other thing is to do a defrag, after a large installation, it's always worthwhile.

The next thing is, what percentage of your hard drive is left? Less than 2Gb and XP will not like it.

To keep the disk running well, here are a few utilities that are worth having:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5
For AVG-Free, the best free anti-virus around. Keep it up-to-date via automatic updates. The paid for version is well worth the money. If you have no anti-virus, you must download this. I’ve used it for years and had no trouble.

http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/toolbar/index.html?utm_campaign=enGB&utm_source=enGB-ha-emea-uk-google&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=google-toolbar
For the Google toolbar with pop-up blocker. A very useful and trustworthy piece of kit. But if you have pop-ups already, you need to get rid of the cause. Don’t stop here, but continue down the list.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html
for Spyware Blaster, download this program and run it – once it has given protection, you can close it, but each time you open the computer run it.

http://www.adaware-antispyware.com/uk_ad_aware/
For Ad-Aware personal, run this at least 3 times a week (twice as a smart scan, once as a full-system scan) and keep it up to date

http://www.safer-networking.org/
For Spybot Search & Destroy, keep this up to date and also read the instructions

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/coolwebshredder.html
For Coolweb Shredder. Keep it up-to-date and run this at least once a week and particularly if you are getting too many pop-ups

[…are you keeping up? We’re halfway through…]

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php
For Hijack This download. Create a folder called Hijack and save the program to that folder. This is a powerful tool, do not use it without knowing what you are doing. Run it by all means but do not click any boxes (you’ll see what I mean when you run a scan.) Ask it to save a log and post that log on the Hijack This forum on this site if you are still suffering.

http://www.download.com/3000-2092-10039884.html
For Zone Alarm – an intelligent and very efficient firewall for both traffic in and traffic out – a “Pro” version is available (around $40) with anti-virus and other bells and whistles; it is highly rated.


http://www.ccleaner.com/
For Ccleaner – cleans up all the rubbish (temp files, Web history, etc) from your computer.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/RootkitRevealer.mspx
Rootkit Revealer – a good piece of anti-malware but read and understand the page thoroughly before you do anything. Also visit the Rootkit forum and use the search facility for anything the program throws up. When you run it, be very patient; close everything down that you can. Run it and wait. Do not disturb it! It can take up to an hour or more to run through. (If you do use the computer whilst it is running, it won’t hurt the computer but it will not give you the correct answers.) It is remarkably good at sniffing out nasties.

http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/Disk_Maintenance_and_Repair_Utilities/HDHacker.html
Master Boot Repair – could save the life of a computer.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/PageDefrag.mspx
PageFile degfrag utility. This defrags the parts other defraggers can’t reach; mainly the page file system and the hibernation files.

Well, that should keep you going and they are all free!

Post again with a Hijack This Log if your problems persist.

where do I find the temp directories?

Wow! Thanks mate! I'll get right on to it:D