Slow MBP - Help

Question

I've got a pretty much maxed spec MBP and it seems to be running real slow even when I'm running not much in the way of demanding software. Right now I'm running one Safari, one MS Entourage and one Mail... and the MBP fairly regularly hangs for 6+ seconds when I ask it to perform a new task. For instance if I click on Dashboard it hangs, has a think, I get the spinning beachball and 5-10 secs later Dashboard pops up.
When my MBP is left alone for 15 mins, screen saver comes on and I come back and click on the mouse, again, I get the spinning beachball and a good 5-10 second wait for my MBP to come back on line.
If I look at StatBook Pro while in Dashboard I can see that virtually ALL my 2GB mem is being used in various different forms even though I'm running what I consider to be a pretty undemanding software set.
Any ideas...??
Many Thanks
MBP 2.16Ghz 2GB Ram   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

Answer 1

I do have that widget installed. It's my favorite! Sadly I am :ahem: at work and do not have access to my machine.
Another fun thing you might want install is "Menu Meters" (find it via version tracker). Launch it from the System Preferences. From there it will put numbers up in your menu bar such as processor usage and memory totals.
One other thing to note: I lauched PowerPoint a couple of times and noticed that it didn't free up the processors after I closed it! It was running them at 100%. Using command-tab, see if you have any Applications showing that you aren't actually running.