De-frag.....................................then.......
 

do it again!

Installed SP1 for XP, and my pooter slowed down a lot. Don't want to overstate it but it was not good.

Got a bit desperate at one stage and then decided to do what I remembered I hadn't done for a while....de-frag. What a mess!
It took over 5 hours!!. The result however, was dramatic. Now back to it's old self. Thought I would do it again.......lo and behold it was even better. I think that's enough for a couple of weeks now.

Moral of this story is. Always de-frag every two to three weeks. I just plain forgot, but I won't do it again.