['89cab]

Is there a reasonable solution to recapturing the normal operating speed of a Windows XP computer? (Please don’t tell me to buy him an Apple.)

My son brought me his Dell Inspiron / b130 laptop which had reached a p a i n f u l l y sloooow pace. I started by deleting programs, temp files, defragmenting, upgrading software, and anything else I could think of. I foolishly purchased Norton antivirus and Norton Confidential from Costco. (What a waste of money.) The computer has responded somewhat to all these efforts, but still responds much too slowly.

I’ve tried a few online software downloads (spybot and registry cleaner and maybe one or two others – I’ve been working on this off and on for two weeks) without success. I’m reluctant to spend more money on something that may or may not work. Do I have to find a local computer repair place?