I've had a very similar experience to your reader John Uttley (December 13). According to all the usual tests, the virus has gone, but the laptop remains more or less unusable as it is so slow. Mike Clayton
If Windows XP is sluggish, it is often because you have malware (or anti-malware software) installed, too many programs loading at startup, or not enough free hard drive space. If it's unusably slow, it is often because of a hardware problem, such as bad memory, or a hard drive that is about to fail.
Press F1 to get the Help and Support Center and search for "clean environment" (without the quotes). Go to the page that says "To create a clean environment for troubleshooting" and follow the instructions. If this doesn't isolate the problem, run a memory test (memtest.org) and a drive checker such as HDD Health (panterasoft.com).
You can also try the free quick check at PCPitstop.com by clicking only the Full Tests link on the left-hand side.
