Repair or Reload? XP Home Registry Issues

I'm running XP Home on a PC I built 2 years ago. Over the past few months, I have been having increasing issues with the system slowing down, freezing up and getting occasonal fatal error messages.

I've ruled out malware, spyware and viruses (currently run AVG free and ThreatFire; had previously used MacAfee for about a year and Norton before that). Windows updates are automatically installed daily. Have also run RegCure - although it appears to clean unneeded entries, it's not solving the problem.

Bottom line: I suspect the registry has gradually been corrupted through dozens of new programs being loaded, updated and removed.

Although I've pretty much resigned myself to wiping the drive and doing a fresh install of XP, does anyone know any tips or tricks to repair XP that might save me the time and hassles of having to reload all my software (and the resuting hassles of re-activating it)?

Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

 

Basic computer maintenance everyone should do is a great place to start

 

As shanemail has indicated, the best starting point , - and Major Attitudes tip , using ccleaner will help with the registry bloat.
You can also rn sfc /scannow, and put your Windows disk in your cd/dvd drive, and it will repair corrupted Windows important files (Click Start, Run, Type in sfc /scannow (note the space after sfc )