First thing I'd try is to clean up the windows temp folder.

Close excel
windows start button|Run
%temp%
is a quick way to get there.

And here are a couple of sites that discuss slow performance. The first is by
Charles Williams and the second by David McRitchie:

http://www.decisionmodels.com
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/slowresp.htm




CES-MCS wrote:

When I launch Excel by clicking on a spreadsheet file, it takes an excessive
amount of time to load. Like a minute to 3 minutes. However when I launch
Excel and open the file it opens imediately. This also happens with Word.
Any other application is fine including other Office applications. This
Office 2003 with all the updates applied and Windows XP SP2 with all the
updates applied. I have completely uninstalled Office and reinstalled.

--

Dave Peterson