If you are using XP and the machine isnt connecting to the internet you might want to try shutting down as many services running on the machine as possible so the CPU has an easier time -

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

Gives one of the classic performance setups for a few differeing types of application.

May be worth a try and for any of you running a vanilla XP setup it may be worth a look too.