I solved MY problem yesterday. I concluded I was memory-limited. XP Home ran fine for months @ 128 MB. Then after the XP Critical Update a couple months ago...slow city...frustratingly slow! Check your "Performance" parameters (Under Task Manager) and the "Commit Charge"...a measure of the demand for memory vs. the memory resources available. I was > 99% (that's BAD). Yesterday I added 256 MB more (384 MB total), and the machine runs like new! Loads up almost instantly. Everything that was dragging before now seems to take but an instant. My "Commit Charge" is now around 30%~35%. God Luck!