The label says it has 512 MB of memory. I'm not sure which memory this is referring to, but if it is the RAM on the motherboard, it could use an upgrade. Windows XP likes to have 2 Gigabyte (2 GB) or more. You are using a wireless router on a DSL sevice. Make sure that your wireless router is secured so that someone else within range can't horn in and ride piggyback on your connection for free. The more computers using the connection, the slower it gets for any one computer. The next potential bottle neck is the DSL service. If this is over a phone line, it may not be a large jump in speed over a standard dial-up service. A good connection does have marked improvement in speed, but a troublesome connection looses much speed advantge. Consider taking the computer to a shop or friend and try on their lines. Another problem, if over a phone line, is a noisy line. Thw phone company can test your phone line for quality. Make sure that you tell the technicam that this line will be used for internet service. If over a phone line, another bottleneck can be the phone company. It may not have installed equipemnt capable of high speed data transfer. If you have a friend who has a high speed cable connection with a wireless router, you may want to try your computer on his connection. Have the computer checked out at a computer shop to discover if it is the computer or the DSL service to your house.

Spyware and virus infection is of course a possibility. I found Super AntiSpyware not overly impressive, but choice makes the world go round. Have you been adding and removing applications? Today when many applications are installed they want to be part of the startup and operate behind the scenes in some capacity causing slowdowns. If you have been removing applications a cluttered registry could cause a slow down. If you are uncomfortable using the Run line, CCleaner would do a fine job for you on Vista and all its nooks, cranies and corners. Just download and install it. Use the default settings. It's free and user friendly. There is also a registry cleaning tool which will allow you to create a backup if you so desire. Also, you can access the error checking utility by START>Computer>right click on the c/ drive> Properties>Tools>Error checking and then reboot. The same path will take you to a disk defragment if you so desire. DA

deleting cookies does very little to speed up your computer and will require you to login manually to any sites you are a member of, and also will delete any site preferences stored in them. While it certainly hurts nothing, this can be a huge inconvenience. I manually delete cookies, saving the ones from the site i visit frequently. I do this about once every other month. deleting all files in system temp caches (not to be confused with temp internet cache) can be disasterous to software upgrading and removal if they store uninstall files in there. Some software packages use system temps for uninstall and update/upgrade information. It is best to manually clean house in system temp directories/folders and remove nothing for software you currently use. the best ways to make your computer run leaner and faster is to: clean and repair the system registry cut down on the un-needed programs and services that auto-start when you turn on windows defragment your hard drive virus scan to remove all malicious items spyware scan to remove all malicious items delete internet temp files

Strange thing is my netbook and office desktop work fine, no backbutton problem. All had the same updates and version FF. Tried my husbands laptop and it works fine - same updates. All run XP. Nothing different that I can tell. The problem continues on my home desktop. I can't figure out what the difference would be. I don't think its the mouse as I use a wireless MS mouse. Jane