I have been an XP user for over five years since my converting to Windows Vista, and I can assure you I've gone through a lot of difficulties regarding my computer's performance. Most of these problems came from careless browsing and downloading of a lot of unknown applications, so more or less through constant researching and tinkering of my operating system, I'm able to come up with a few solutions that don't necessarily require me to buy or download an antispyware program.

There are many solutions in which you can do when your Windows XP becomes too slow. It's important that you know where the problem lies in your own operating system before considering a virus or malware attack. After scanning and the system and your Windows XP is still too slow, try uninstalling programs like toolbars and added programs that you don't use anymore. This eats up a lot of computer space and may actually be the reason why your Windows XP's performance is faltering. People download and install all kinds of programs and sometimes these programs are actually useless and can hurt your computer's performance after all. You should do a disk cleanup once in a while, which can help in searching for unused programs which you can free from.

The next step you can do if your Windows XP becomes too slow is to defragment your computer. Files get fragmented in your computer all the time and it usually slows down the computer's performance as well as eats up a lot of space. With all the clustered files in your system, it will take a while for the computer to function normally, which is why it is advisable to defragment your system once in a while. Though it may take some time do so, especially on your first attempt in defragmenting, you'll be amazed at how fast your system will become.

Two other options you can do to keep your Windows XP from becoming too slow are by turning off programs that automatically run when your system starts and by disconnecting unused network connections. For the programs, you can turn them off by browsing through your Task Manager and clicking End Process for programs that you don't think you'll be using or you find useful at all. For network connections, this may be one of the biggest contributors to a slow computer because network file sharing allows you or other computers to read and write files in each other's computers. Try disabling file sharing and your system will improve dramatically.

Lastly, if none of these solutions still seem to fit your standards, you can start troubleshooting and scanning your system for any form of virus attack. Make sure to check how long your system recovers after restarting to see the changes made after a long system scan. Also, make sure to backup your files in case you are required to reformat your computer. There are many websites out there that offer all kinds of solutions when your Windows XP is too slow, but you should be sure that you know what you're attempting to do before considering their procedures.