Terry Pratchett <tpratchett@unseen.demon.co.uk> wrote in message news:<OBiiysRsdp$$EA8O@unseen.demon.co.uk>...

Since the beginning of January the (theoretically) fasted machine in my 
network,  a 2.2 Ghz P4, has been turning around units in 15-20 hours. 
It's running the graphical version under XP

This is as opposed  to a  4-5hr turnaround on another machine, the1.8 
Ghz  P4  running the CLI).  It's slower even than the old 450Mhz P2!  I 
didn't worry at first because all the machines get the occasional big 
one, but *every* unit take the better part of a day now. 4-6 hours per 
unit was the norm until the end of the December.

No new software has been put on the machine, no specs have been altered, 
and in every other respect it appears to be working fast and 
efficiently.  Can anyone give me a clue about what might be happening?

I've read that rebooting occasionally may rejuvenate the machine. Also
switching over to the CLI often solves many problems.