Unable to open files

At first I just thought I had a couple of programs that were conflicting on my laptop because my computer wwas freezing up whenever I started it normally. I was fortunate enough to be able to restart in safe mode and back up my data, but now I'm trying to figure out whats going wrong.

So far, my laptop loads the OS extremely slow, After the system loads it responds only mildly slow. I am able to create documents and save them but when I go back to edit them, my computer does not respond. Is there a solution to this problem? (I have a Compaq Presario v2000 notebook w/ Windows XP and Microsoft Office Sm Bus. Edition installed)

 

one of two possibilities i reakon.
a) spyware/viruses
b) and more probable... your HDD is on the way out. listen for any abnormal noises when your computer is under load & run a CHKDSK /r to see if there are any bad sectors. (and if you find out the brand of hdd, go to their website & download their diagnostic program and run that)