why the professional versions are better . . .
home users need 'window cleaning tools"
Win2k pro, XP pro, vista business + up, win7 pro + up can all be set up to be self cleaning, through group policy settings (which isn't available to home users)
as such I have a 9 year old XP Pro OEM install that started off life with SP1 and went through the SP2 and SP3 upgrades as well
it's still on the original 120GB Seagate hdd and it hasn't slowed down,
and I also have a pair of 6 year old XP Pro custom installs that aren't showing any slowing either
> store no document / program / browser history
> disable recent docs, etc.
> store no user files anywhere on C:\ install another HDD or use partition
> disable the indexing service delete the catalog and unindex all NTFS partitions
> disable personalized menus
> disable "user tracking"
etc.
and the system is self cleaning
there is a whole host of performance enhancing policies that strip out the dead weight and go a long way to making a system more robust and longer lasting
for disk testing, I use the free testing tools from the individual HDD mfg. when possible:
WD DLG, for western digital disks
SeaTools, for seagate / maxtor disks
etc.
also, good anti-whatever scans can help point you in the right direction for detecting whether a slowdown is caused by critter-ware,
or if you should be looking at the software, drivers, recent updates, or hardware as the cause
