My husband did a complete re-imaging of my IBM R50e notebook today while I was away at my mom’s place. My notebook runs Windows XP and it runs very smoothly. Runs like new in fact.

He has also switched anti-virus. We were running Avast! anti-virus but as of now, my resident anti-virus is NOD32 which claims to be one of the fastest. As a start, it does use much less ram than Avast!.

One of the most useful malware preventive software we installed lately is SandBoxie. Google it and I suggest you give it a try. Do pardon the crude comparison, imagine the condom as one of the best ways to ensure safe sex. SandBoxie protects your PC pretty much the same way as it isolates the browser (and any programs you choose to use it with) from the internet. No malware from the internet can pass SandBoxie and do damage to your PC. It’ll sure save you a lot of headache. Check it out.