The slow down actually miracaluosly stopped yesterday. It was happening when I was running Word. it took forever (like 40 min forever) to open one document. once that was done it began to work normally. I think that it's ok. maybe a bit slower than it was before but normal the only thing that is a bit wierd is that when it was working to open that document it sounded like the Hard Drive was squealing. I mean a real high pitched eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. It stopped with the return of normal function but should I be worried? I'm considering reinstalling the Operating system but I dont want to do it if the computer is going to go soon. peace g