Aklim - thanks

I just removed a few additional start-up programs using msconfig, and also downloaded Adobe Reader 8, and I'm back in business (although with an error message when I try to view a pdf online).

I'm at 72% free on the hard disc, and defragmentation is not needed.

On Task Manager I'm showing 40 processes open but only about 1-5% usage in background.

The funny thing is I have only about 7 files checked on startup (basically the minimum necessary), so I don't believe that's it. Still thinking maybe I'll go with more RAM although I can't figure out why I need it.