Slow FS215S

[Sebby]

I have a VAIO FS215S on which I have a clean install of XP from my own XP Professional (retail) CD.

My process is:
1. install XP;
2. install the latest INF drivers from the Intel website;
3. install the rest of the drivers from the Sony (system) CD;
4. install my applications.

I don't have a great deal installed (let alone starting with Windows), yet I find the VAIO quite sluggish. My old VX71P (850MHz) felt quicker!

It's not slow to boot, but once I've logged in it takes a fair while to load everything to the point where there's little or no HDD activity, then when I open my first program - usually Outlook - there's a noticable lag. I would have thought it could be nippier.

This VAIO isn't new; I've had it for over a year now. I don't always remember it being so sluggish. I formatted only around a month ago, so it's not even as if it's just at the point where it's getting a bit clogged. There is definitely no spyware or viruses.

Can anyone suggest where the problem may lie?

Many thanks.

[Blencogo]

Hi Sebby - long time no hear!!

Are you using Norton? This does this - particularly with Office Applications.

It does sound like a Virus Scanner at work before the application opens. Try disabling the active virus scanner and see if things improve.

[Sebby]

Hi Blencogo; it has been a long time!

I don't use Norton (I've experience of this and it does really slow the startup down). I use AVG Free, which in the past has always caused no performance issues for me!

[Sebby]

Any other suggestions?

[Sebby]

I ordered a stick of 512MB RAM from Crucial last night. I didn't want to spend the money on 2 of them at the moment (not short of £100) so I thought I'd just get the one for now, bringing the total to 768MB. If I want/need more, I can get it in a couple of months.

Do you think it'll help me out with my sluggish VAIO (along with another clean install of Windows)?