Slow or Sluggish Computer:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm
http://aumha.org/a/health.htm - Take Out the Trash

Make sure the computer is virus/malware-free:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Malke

Blair:

I had this problem also but found that it was due to spyware on the
computer.  If your laptop is online, download a spyware program.  I
used http://www.superantispyware.com/

I also use Regcure to clean out the registry of unnecessary items.

Pat

This is always the case ... generally speaking laptops do not perform as
well as desktops.

Desktop CPUs have more horsepower.
Desktop hard disks are significantly faster.
Desktop video is faster.

Assuming your problem is not malware related, consider the following:

It's possible a read error caused your hard drive access to change from
Ultra DMA to PIO mode, reset it:

http://technize.com/2007/08/02/is-your-hard-disk-cddvd-drives-too-slow-while-copying/

Also, one of the things that slows down PCs is unnecessary processes
running in the background. Some of these processes use considerably more
resources/memory than others. Your best bet is to use Google and these
sites to gather information as to what they are and how best to disable
them:

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php#THE_PROGRAMS

http://www.sysinfo.org/startupinfo.html

and

http://www.answersthatwork.com (and click on the Task List button)

Use XP's MSCONFIG to see what  is running each time you boot up. Task
Manager (Control + Alt + Delete) will give you information as to which
processes are currently running. Jot down the programs and research them
using the sites above.

Note that even if you are running few programs, it's still possible that
the programs you *are* running are using more memory than your system
can comfortably handle (e.g., video editing, Virtual PC, etc.), thus
resulting in relying far too much on your page file. You can determine
if you have enough RAM by using either of the following two methods:

1. When you are in Task Manager/Performance, look in the lower left-hand
corner. You should see three figures under Commit Charge (K): Total,
Limit, and Peak. What are they? Record these figures shortly after a
reboot and then again, after you have been using the PC for a while and
you notice sluggishness.

I know you have 512 MB of RAM. If your Total or Peak figures exceed
the amount of RAM you have, there is a good chance you are relying too
much on the page file, which will certainly cause sluggishness.

2. Or, for a more accurate assessment, you may run Page File Monitor for
Windows XP:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

More ideas...

Are you sure you have the right type of RAM? Is it seated properly in
the motherboard slot(s)? How much RAM do you see Windows using in the
General tab of System Properties (right-click My Computer and select
Properties)?

In some cases, there is a BIOS setting (in Dells, for instance) that
limits the amount of RAM to 256 MB. For more info, see Table 6-2:

http://support.ap.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pe1750/en/sm/setup.htm

In addition to the good advice about malware, etc., a laptop is slower than
a desktop because it doesn't have as fast a processor. and the disks run at
4200 rpm instead of the faster 7200 rpm disks.
Jim