Ways to clean my computer to make it stop running so slow

[MrDingleDangle]

At work I have an XP machine, not very old and has over 10 gigs of free space, but it is running horribly slow as of late.

I need suggestions for things that I need to do to make sure its as clean as it can get so it stops running slow and locking up, im going to defrag it this weekend and do a disk cleanup, what else is there that I can do to make it run like it did even a couple months ago?

 

[johnjkr1]

A nice format is always the best. Other than that, uninstall everything you don't need from add/remove. Run a full spyware/antivirus scan. Clear out msconfig of junk. As a side note, a defrag and a disk cleanup are a solution to nothing. Lockups aren't caused by defragmented files.

 

[vietofmars]

Get rid of all those items running in your taskbar next to the clock. And clear out your startup folder. And turn off all the effects in XP. System properties, Advanced, Performance.

 

[johnjkr1]

(msconfig is the same as the items near the clock (the system tray) and the same as the startup folder)