Hi Ziggie. The product I use you can try out for a free for 15 day trial. I have the registered version - that's how much trust I put into this product - and have received free updates for over one year). It is a multifunction product (some prefer stand alone versions - I do to an extent - but this one IMHO out preforms many other products). A word of caution, the Registry Defrag portion requires a reboot (not sure if you're aware of this - so I only do this when offline, and exit all other programs). It should take less than 2 min and after the reboot, you'll be given a side by side chart to see what was reduced. Since I'm giving my 2 cents on this product, it does allow users to undo (revert) to the previous settings (in almost every function), also similar to the Windows Restore, but the information is saved in the programs sub-directory, so you can only access it via the program. As I said, I trust this program, use it regularly, so others looking for something better, might give this program a try. You can get more info at the link below, Mindblower!

[u:34v1uzqc]http://www.download.com/TweakNow-PowerPack-Professional/3000-2086_4-10433358.html
[/u:34v1uzqc]

Ziggie, I can relate! My computer is three years old and it's been slowing down too.

I have 2 GIG RAM and my computer keeps freezing up in the middle of working on stuff - very frustrating.

I'm pretty good about maintaining my computer and keeping it "healthy" but it's slowing down.

It's time for a defrag. Maybe I need new RAM.

To sunrisen3: There are reviews (maybe not to this latest version), and while on this topic (reviews), one truly needs to take any review as, NOT as the complete truth. Some will love, hate, be indifferent, want more, want it to be cheaper (mainly free), complain about some feature(s), and so on. Since this is a multipurpose program, kindly remember why you were interested and don't lose sight of all the extras (I do use many of the features since I love this program and it's proven itself as being secure and trustworthy). But don't leap in without doing some reading and understanding of what the feature you are about to use does (have a backup or at the very least save the current copy of your registry - just to be safe - since depending on what programs you are using, anything can happen. That was a mouthful, Mindblower!

I just wanted to suggest that you run the Windows Task Manager (CNTRL-ALT-DEL) when things are running slow to see what's open that could be causing problems.

I've noticed that when I have Outlook and/or Outlook Express open (which use a huge amount of resources in my computer because of all of the junk that I have stored in both programs), my computer frequently freezes up and stalls which is very annoying when I'm in the middle of something. So, I try to keep those programs closed and only open them briefly when needed. (I have email notifiers that allow me to read and send emails through but also try to keep them closed when possible.)

It helps to keep big programs like those closed. Sometimes you aren't aware that the programs are running in the background because there won't be a tell-tale icon in the try as a giveaway. But if you see MSMIN.exe (or something like that), it is Outlook Express and if you see OUTLOOK.exe then ... well, that's pretty obvious.

At least you have a good sense of humor!

I've used Lotus Notes and prefer Outlook. Despite my previous rant about it being a resource hog, it's a great, powerful program. It has flaws and glitches but, those aside, is an awesome program when you know how to work around them. (Some day I hope they will be resolved ... too much to hope for?)

I think that part of the problem with freezes is that the system is checking for new emails when email programs are running.

However, right now my computer stalled and I don't have any of them open. So, it isn't the whole answer. But it is part of the answer.