My computer Guru says my computer is on its last legs. What to do?

[Paper Roses]

I admit that this machine is old,but I cannot afford to buy a new one. I have XP(sp3) and keep up with all scans and other jobs like scan disk, defrag, delete junk, whatever I can think of to do.
I am told that part of the reason the machine is so slow is because I am on the lowest tier Comcast service. I admit that it is the case. I can't afford to buy anything else including their bundled offerings. TV is so bad with this low tier that I hardly ever watch, no loss, I read a lot.

I wonder what I can do to help this old machine to struggle a while longer.
Additional memory was added 3 years ago.
HP. Pavilion a1530n. 2002
Firefox browser.
AVG,
Malwarebytes
Ccleaner
Spybot.

I have tried to understand things like (task Manager) to see what I may be using or what memory I have left but I don't know what I am looking at.
I have been told that if I delete some programs that I don't use, that I may benefit.
Problem: I can't figure out what I use.

Other than internet access, MS Word and a program for my camera and printer, I don't know what else I use. Neither can I understand what some of the programs listed ADD/DELETE in Control panel. There is a ton of junk from Canon for my camera and also a ton of stuff from Microsoft.Surely I will never use a spread sheet but I'm afraid to delete it because it is part of MS Office ( works?).

Even if I don't know what the heck I am talking about, what info can I give you fine people so that perhaps I can prolong the life of this gizmo?

BTW, if I do: ctl/alt/del and access task manager, It tells me there are 52 processes running. MY guru told me this is a culmination of all updates and nothing there is surplus.
Shoot! Life was so much more simple.

I feel stupid because I don't know how to explain what I have on this machine. You are all so far ahead of this old granny that I cringe when I ask for information when I can't even explain what I'm talking about.
Sympathy please.
Why do some people have machines that are older than this and are still going strong?

[hobbit709]

1. The thing I do with any Windows machine is about every few years is save all the data

do a complete wipe of the hard drive and reinstall. Then it starts working like it did new.
Windows inherently clutters itself and the only real way to unclutter it is to start over.
The problem with a real old machine like that is finding a new hard drive, if you still have the original drive in it it's probably getting shaky which could be part of the reason it's bogging down and acting slow.

checking the specs with HP they say it came out in 2006. It does have a SATA drive so a new drive can be put in it easily.

If you want PM me and I'll tell you about options with it.

[Paper Roses]

6. Wish you lived near me, I'd hire you in a minute to do the job.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't understand any of this. Wipe out the hard drive and reinstall? Beyond me.
Since my funds are so limited, I want to stretch this old gizmo as far as I can. Doing anything to help, including your kind suggestion is way beyond my pay grade.
Today, after much look-see, I deleted Adblock Plus. Some of my 'slow' problems started when I installed this back in April '15.

I had some rather nasty ads popping up and it was suggested that I try this. Great, no more ads but a way slower computer. My guru thinks I should give up and buy something newer but that is easy for him to say. No money for that kind of investment.

I guess I'll just plod along and hope for the best until this old machine gives up the ghost.
Stinks getting old and having to cope with stuff that is far beyond comprehension at my age.
Thanks to all who might be sympathetic. Think of your mother or grandmother and how they would react to modern technology.
Scary, isn't it?

[hollysmom]

2. maybe you can get a recycled machine from a friend,

I usually look for someone that wants my old one when I get a new one.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. How much could you spend if you had to?

[Mnpaul]

5. Good question

I just looked at MicroCenter. 8 off lease models with Win7 home for under $100
http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?N=4294967292&NTX=&NTT=&NTK=all&page=1&sortby=pricelow

[Ron Obvious]

4. I'm not seeing how Comcast fits into this

Your network coverage may be slow, but it would be equally slow on a new machine as well. Unless you're e.g. running apps from a cloud service, I don't see that this is a factor. I agree with the suggestion above me. A reinstall might fix things.

[-none]

7. Have you done a Defrag anytime lately?

Defragment a Disk Volume

If the Disk Defragmenter tool is not already running, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.
Click the volume that you want to defragment.
Click Defragment to begin the operation.

[hr]
Make sure there are check marks in both boxes, when it show up. This operation can take quire a while, an hour or longer, depending on how bad it needs defraging and how many files you have.
If it finds bad sectors and "fixes them" you probably have a bad hard drive and tha tin itself could be the problem.
It will tell you on the screen as it goes. XP also makes a log file with this information.
I don't have access to an XP machine here, so I can't tell you how to find where XP puts it.

[Paper Roses]

8. Hi. I defragged last week, just before my Guru came. Just did it again..in case.

Nothing earth-shattering to report.

I have a feeling that this is just a tired old machine that I will have to keep running until it goes poof.

I don't even know what to expect when it finally dies. Black smoke, grinding sounds, explosion, scream???

New Guru? I can't begin to clean out the hard drive and ---whatever. It looks like I may get a used one from my son-in-law. Hope so.

Thanks to all for suggestions, I appreciate the help, as always,
PR

[-none]

9. Get the appropriate size/number of flash drives and back up your data, if you haven't already.