Okay, so my problems are basically my RAM and my hard drive size? That makes sense, but I just have a couple of follow-up questions: My 8GB hard drive can't be "all that fast" ? Hard drives don't have speeds, do they? Just storage size, right? It's the CPU that controls speed, not HD. Could any other factors be contributing? Does it matter whether my overall computer resolution is at 1024x768 or 800x600? Also, isn't 300MB free HD space more than any program could possibly use for swap space? Exactly how much is the maximum that it's useful to have free? I thought I was sitting pretty with this arrangement. Thanks again.. Cenozoite