Need help troubleshooting computer

[sparks]

I was troubleshooting my friends PC and I have yet to find the problem. The symptoms are extreme slowness in bootup and launching applications. The PC will not launch Internet Explorer, as soon as I click the icon the hourglass flashes for a couple of secinds and then nothing happens.

Spec:
Dell Dimension 8300
-2.8GHz P4
-512MB RAM
-80GB HD
-SB2
-Radeon 9800

Steps if have taken:
-Spybot
-Adaware
-MS Antispy
-Scanned for virus
-Did a full checkdisk
-Ran 65 passes of memtest
-Defragged the hard disk

I think that it is reasonable to rule out hardware, spyware or viruses. I then proceeded to uninstall the little programs such as AIM, AOL and others. I even uninstalled SP2 (which he says is when the problems started)...still no love. My last resort was to do a Windows XP repair, still nothing. I am trying to avoid reformatting as I live 60 miles away from my friend. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[sfmedic]

Sounds like maybe a registry problem. It sounds like it is time to do a HDD rebuild. Back up all your data on a CD or DVD ROM and do a clean install of windows. Then do all of the updates such as SP2 and then install updated software that works with SP2. Good luck.b

 

[fishmonger12]

format and reinstall with all the precautionary steps (don't connect to the internet until you have firewall/antivirus installed).

have you tried using mozilla?

 

[sparks]

Thats what I was afraid of, I guess I'll bring over my portable HD to backup his data and then reformat the thing. Thanks.