Slow laptop. Is it due to antivirus?

Uninstall it and run AVG. Very light on system resources, and an excellent AV program. I run the free version, get it here:

http://free.avg.com/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition#tba1

Sometimes the free AVG slows down your computer if you dont have enough memory. It did for mine and I had to purchase the paid for Norton at a store.

have win xp, get more ram! 512mb on an older machine running todays software isn't going to do it. Also clean up your hard drive.

Norton is the devil if you ask me. Take the first poster's advice.

The major root cause is Norton, as mentioned by the 1st post, 2nd is the bloated WinXP.

I had used to run on 512 for desktop on XP PRo, but over time, it slowed (both while running as well as startingup/shutdown) due to various softwares installed/removed, as well as the XP's updates. What I will do, in your case is, get the laptop backup, obtain all CDs that came with your latop, get hold all the software you are going to install, give the laptop a fresh new installation, installing XP's service pack 3 (if you have XP with service pack 2) instead of installing XP with SP2 and doing all the updates(then apply SP3). It'll do wonders to your long shutting down.

Do remember to install the antivirus 1st (I use both free AVG and free Avast as each catches viruses which the other will have difficulty in cleaning/removing or sometimes missed), get it updated with the lastest signatures before installing all other programmes. I did that to my brother's 5/6year old laptop and it works wonders.

AntiVirus can slow down a computer. So does all the other software you install. You can do a fresh start by reformatting. You can add more memory (reccomended) as it does noticiable speed up the computer.