Why a 3 gigahertz dell windows xp is slow

WTF, same issue with Dell 3.0 gig hasn't been regularly used in 3 yrs but today fired it up and want to commit suicide. (my Macs never give this 'let's watch paint dry' slow routine, even the 11 yr old iMac 300 mghz G3 running Tiger 10.4.11)

P4 3gig Dell running a snail's pace, WinXP. Somebody shoot me or come up with a solution so my daughter can write her college paper.

Thanks in advance.