All of a sudden it seemed to go slow, the processor was active although I wasn't actually doing anything, it was taking forever to do anything in fact. I have cleared the caches and rebooted and it appears to have picked up speed a little. I am on my third hard drive and thought for a moment that I culd be heading for my fourth! I am using 2000 Pro which has been trouble-free.

Ah, the processor light has ceased to flicker so whatever it was doing it has obviously decided to stop!

Why might my computer go slow this way? It is not in need of a defrag, I have Nortons System Works and it says the disk is 100% optimized.

Have you cleaned out your hard drive lately?? My computer needs it desperately--I have no sound and have to restart my computer every time I turn it on! That may be the answer..but then again, I'm a graphic designer, not a tech!