After I updated my copy of WinXP Pro with sp3, I began experiencing a series
of problems that seem to be related to running Excel, in that they only occur
when Excel is open. These problems include: delayed screen refreshes, slower
performance, occasional system freezes, particularly when trying to copy
information from one spreadsheet to another, etc. In short, the system is
acting like it has a "memory leak". However, using the Task Manager to
monitor active processes and resources doesn't show any problems, and seems
to show everything running normally. Specs of the system are as follows:
CPU: Pentium D CPU 2.80GHz
RAM: 2048 MB
OS: XP Professional, ver 5.1.2600
Excel 2003 ver 11.8211.8202 (SP3)
HD1: 148GB; 121GB available
HD2: 232GB; 232GB available

Any suggestions on the cause and ways to solve the problem? It's getting to
the point where long-term use of Excel is almost impossible, and since I need
to use it on a daily basis to do my job, that presents some problems...