Not responding ......software

["anna" <annabaum100@xxxxxxxxx>]

Not responding ......software

I have a laptop - Windows XP, Intel Celeron 350
256 MB SDRAM, 40GB HDD


My laptop is now giving me trouble.

It says "Not responding" on my Instant Messaging box, Browsers etc.

I do not know why this is happening.

I have run
-Msconfig and unchecked all the software in the Startup section.
-defrag
- Spybot
- Virus scan
- Adaware

but still it runs slow and says Not responding. The screen freezes for
a while and then goes back to being normal.

When I go to Windows Task manager, I see 260MB are being used. I do not
why so much MB is being used when i have only 3 or 4 browser windows
open...usually Mozilla. No other software.

Once I got a message that the Virtual memory was dangerously low.

Can any one pls help me ?

Thanks
Anna