Make sure you only have running one each of ;
Firewall
Virus Program
Spyware

If you easily know how to turn off indexing,, turn it off.

Go into your control panel, classic view. Double click Performance Info & Tools - assuming Vista. What's the performace scores of the different items ?

Back out of Performance to control panel again, scroll down to Problem Reports & Solutions... on the left there... See Problems... See problem History. Check for Solutions. Those are all good things to look at.

Back out to contol panel, Double click Administative tools. Open Computer Management.... click Event View... give it time to load... See the Errors in past hour, and 24 hours... that may tell you whats wrong.

To me it sounds from your post that you have a trial version of Norton running that came with the pc and now the Norton 2008 security suite that you installed if that is the case it would slow it down to a crawl.

Yes, uninstall the trial version of Norton that came with the computer, Do an online virus scan at Trend Micro or one of the others. Then download and install a couple of good antispyware utilities, like Adaware 2007 free, Spybot Search and destroy, or SuperAntispyware free. There are others too. Do a system clean, ie get rid of a temp files etc, Run the online virus scan, then run two of the spyware utilities one after the other.
When you download and install the spyware utilities, make sure that they are updated after you install and update before each use in the future

THANK YOU ALL for the advise thus far!

I checked & my MS firewall/internet protection are all turned off. I had over 8000 entries in the error log but nothing made sense to me - I cleared them (out f frustration) & will recheck later to see how many accumulate & take a closer look. I uninstalled the old Norton too.

System performance all show green checkmarks, status is GOOD. I forgot to mention I did optimize memory after I installed the additional 2GB.

I just had to refresh this page because it just would not load.

UGH!

I do thank you all for the guidance thus far!
Marty

Ditto with the previous comments. I found that the Norton installed on my most recent computer was a terrible hog and showed itself at every turn. Many new computers come with a slug of other free software that may run upon booting the computer rather than when you click an icon. A dual core processor computer should not be slow. A system restore may help but there are probably other reasons. Check the startup programs - Start : All Programs : Tools : Software Explorer : then click Startup Programs. This will show the programs running when booting. Make a list of the startups and research before disabling at bootup. Among sites for researching bleepingcomputer.com, answersthatwork.com, sysinfo.org --- and many others. To prevent running at bootup, check Disable, then Yes. This does not remove the program, it stops it at boot time. Repeat for each program to prevent running at startup. Before preventing from running, check more than one site - for verification, like the ones previously mentioned. If you have questions after researching, ask for help.

Hi all...I mostly lurk but felt I had to respond to this. I too had a new Dell computer..very fast at first...for like 2 weeks...then for no reason it slowed down to a snails pace on the net...I fretted and fussed...then decided it was Norton Anti-V. I uninstalled it....and downloaded and installed AVG Free. It did a 180 . I did the same thing with my very slow laptop...same results. I have used Norton for years but something was going on with it...I love AVG now...No more Norton for me.
Not sure if this will help you but it sure solved my problem.

When you are working like this you kind of want to un-do things that you have done since the purchase so that being said don't over look the possibility that the ram you yourself installed is or could be a problem, remove it reboot and try the computer. If that makes no difference un-install the norton that you installed using the norton removal tool, a bad norton install could cause trouble, I have no problem with norton but I do know when a pc has unexplained problems and norton is on the system it is something to be concerned with.

Just some other ideas here....

Sorry for the late reply to this. The error logs were full (thousands!) with internet connectivity errors. I uninstalled Norton but it seemed to still have a presence in the system & browser. I ran a full system recovery, and then reinstalled my Optimum Online & wireless router with their associated software. Then I got SMART and replaced Norton with AVG. Man, is my pc back to its speedy self!

Thank you all for the GREAT ADVICE!!
Marty

My new HP with vista slowed down and would freeze up after I loaded on Zone Alarm...I totally removed all signs of Norton..still slow...I would have to power off just to shut down computer or get to a new program. I was loosing icons..and programs...and then they would mysteriously return...only to disappear again...whole computer became very unstable.. Third call to the Costco Techs(luckily that's where I bought this computer)had me do a system restore with them on the phone holding my hand...this restore took be back to supposed "out of the box" factory condition... But I swear this "out of the box" was somehow different from when I first turned on the machine...I am wondering if this was a returned computer that someone had previously "dinked" with....anyway I very slowly and very methodically added back my bookmarks, favorites and email addresses using Windows email not outlook...and reinstalled router, printer, mouse, and external HD software. I logged each thing I did to this machine and each time checked speed...internet was good and holding...I downloaded and installed AVG freebie ..got rid of Norton trial that came with the HP...absolutely no more Zone Alarm..although it was great with my XP machine...then I loaded on program software like Office, Quicken, Quickbooks, and Turbo Tax. Cross my fingers...everything seems to be running ok..and as fast as my XP computer.

It's a fact zone Alarm does not function on all machines same for Norton..

Nothing bogs down or screws up a PC like Norton/Symantic dump it and download Free AVG, you'll be glad you did!

Microsoft (Vista) does not want you using any other firewall but theirs. Try PC Tools Firewall Plus (free), but turn off Windows Firewall first.