I keep my xp installations pretty lean. AV, firewall (not Windows own), slipstreamed sp3 and no other patches or updates (which they stopped issuing a while ago anyway). I very rarely use it for random interwebs stuff, just testing web development projects from my servers, games (mainly steam these days) and Photoshop 6. Never for email.
Agreed about Chrome. They really need to fix the memory management.
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"Giant pig hot air balloon crashes after tangling with a cowboy-shaped one"
All's good with me, except tarragon. I bloody hate it because it makes everything taste of soap. Which is a pity really, since i rather liked Tarragon.