My computer appears to be slowing down. However some days it is very quick. It can sometimes take a long time to load anything (IE, AVG suite etc.) after having been started up. I wonder if it could be due to having too many programs on the pc. Does Skype take up a lot of space? Also I know that sometimes an error message pops up indicating that the computer is low on virtual memory which might be another factor. Virus scans show no evidence of any security or hacking issues.

1.Click Start, and then click Control Panel. 2.Click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System. 3.On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings. 4.Under Virtual memory, click Change. 5.Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file that you want to change. In most computers its C: 6.Under Paging file size for selected drive, click to Custom size check box. You can enter the amount of memory you would like to reserve for Virtual memory by entering the initial and maximum size. 7.Click Set Hot tip: Keep the initial and maximum size the same to cut down on your CPU access. This will stop your CPU from constantly change your Virtual memory paging size. Also set the size 1.5 times higher than your physical memory. Here are some general cleanup tips like defrag and diskcleanup: http://www.delete-computer-history.... none

and will that help to quicken the speed of the pc as well?

Not outrightly but only to a certain degree. i_Xp/VistaUser

I have followed the step(s) above; but computer still remains fairly slow at the mo.

Unsolicited 2¢ worth: This could be of some use (or at least it explains things to a degree): http://www.defendingthenet.com/secu... Some other things that may help, but to a various degree: The resources that your virus-scanner/spyware/malware programs use tend to drag down a system considerably. Having used both AVG (ver. 7) and Avast, both of them appear to consume less than the "bigger name" packages (an thus a faster PC). Defragging can help as well, but it's assist in performance seems to vary from machine to machine. To see a list of what's running on your machine, press ctrl-alt-del and click the "Processes" tab at the top. This should show what is running at the moment. System Idle process should be the biggest user, (actually consider it a "non-user") with 60 to 95 percent of the process listed in "CPU". The "1.5x" virtual memory is more effective in Win9x than in NT-based OS's, but still can help: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308417 Cleaning old files and registry entries also helps slightly; here's a recommended freebie: http://www.ccleaner.com/ but better yet, remove programs you do not use...

I notice that it is generally Microsoft programs that are running slowly e.g. AVG suite is quick opening but IE, Outlook and Word can take some time before they are ready to be used.