Mike,
I heard that XP takes a lot of RAM, and that on older computers don't have enough RAM, to handle XP adequately, just that it might be worth checking out how much available RAM you have available, and if you can add additional RAM to your computer. I have an older computer so never upgraded to XP. I'm just saying this cause you said you had windows 98 and upgraded to XP, might check how much available RAM you have, "if" your using an older computer, it might just be running out of RAM.
I'm glad you liked the free ad-ware program, I use spy bots search and destroy because it has an immunization feature that blocks most of those bots, that my google pop up blocker misses.
Trixie, Thanks for AVG the free anti-virus software, found it at grisoft.