I've been finding a similar situation on this machine and one other machine that I use occasionally.

Both machines run XP.

One machine is from Dell (this one) and the other is from HP.

Both machines have 512MB ram.

Both machines have anti-virus software from Trend Micro.

Both machines run Microsoft anti-spyware every night.

Both machines will run Ad-Aware every week or so.

Both machines will have their temporary internet files cleaned out frequently.


I've done everything that I can possibly do and, yet, both machines don't perform at anywhere near the speed they were when new. I distinctly recall that this machine would open Adobe Acrobat reader 5.1 in 1.5 seconds. Truly unbelievable. Now it takes 7 seconds to accomplish the same thing.

The browser (Firefox) will frequently stall and fail to load a page. Attempt it again and the same thing happens. Then, try it a third time and the page loads instantly. Sometimes four attempts are necessary.

So, for those who are very familiar with XP, is this a case where the registry slowly gets corrupted over time and the machine won't perform? Is the consensus that you must reload the operating system every couple of years? Anyone use "registry mechanc" or similar with any success.

My last desire is to spend an entire weekend reloading software on here.