Sluggish

My compuer will no longer start CD’s either Music or Solfware. It is running very slow. I cleaned out the internet temp. files,cookies,history,ran scandisk, and ran defragmenter. I tried the troubleshooter in the help and support section of WIn/ME but still did not help. I called an computer repair store here in town and the tech suggestest to free up sone memory. He said a computer has more than place that memory is stored. Can you tell me how to free up more memory or have any otger suggestions to get the PC back to running like it’s suppose too.
Thanks,
Phil