There is a lot of buzz about sp3 for Windows XP.  If you haven’t upgraded to Vista, you might want to check this out.  NOTE: this is NOT the final release, so only install this if you are ok with running beta software.  One of the benefits touted is a boost in performance of the OS. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=68c48dad-bc34-40be-8d85-6bb4f56f5110&DisplayLang=en