I have a HP Pavilion 7905 and have had it for 5-6 years.  It is getting very slow and programs sometimes do not open or work right, etc.  I have run spybot, have Norton Anti-virus, deleted the history under internet options, etc, but it still seems to be quite slow.

My question is if it is worth it to take this in to someone to try to get it working right again or if I would be better off just getting a new computer.  I am by no means a computer guru, so please don't get to "technical" on me.   

If I do get a new computer, I would like to stay under $1,000.  What would you suggest?  I use my computer for basic work stuff and internet surfing.  I'm not into gaming or editing videos or any of that more advanced stuff.

Thanks for your help!Well, I see here that you have a 2GHz processor and 512MB of RAM.  So, for your usage, I would say that computer will still serve your purposes fairly well.  I get the impression you've experienced a gradual decrease in performance.  So, the problem is basically a software problem, not a hardware problem.

A formatting of the hard drive and fresh installation of Windows from the recovery CD's you probably received with the computer when new would restore it to like-new performance.  But, I suspect you may be RELUCTANT to do that.  Have you ever done that?

Still, some other measures that don't involve formatting and reinstalling Windows may be quite helpful.  Do you have SP2 (Service Pack 2) for Windows installed?  If not, you should get it.  And, download CCleaner, if you don't have it, and run it's Windows scan and delete what it finds.  Here are some TIPS for Running & Configuring CCleaner.  Also run it's Registry scan and remove, i.e. "fix", all the items it finds; when prompted to backup the registry upon starting the Registry scan, do so.

After running CCleaner, defragment your hard drive.  Are we SEEING any improvement yet?I've been in the same SITUATION as you, with worse hardware.
A fresh install of Windows is not too difficult to achieve, and will definitely help performance.
Also, it is guaranteed to fix all non-hardware errors.
Taking it in to a computer shop will likely just cost a lot of money for something you could do yourself - they'd most probably just reinstall Windows.