[X-Newbies] Slow, slow, slow computing

[R.C.Dickins]

Hi,

I am a desperate newcomer to this list. I live in a small midwestern 
city of 135,000, where Macs are not sold and where I know only one 
other Mac user. Not only are Mac users rare, but conversations 
concerning Macs are even more rare. Consequently, I apologize if you 
have heard my problems before. If so, however, I am also hoping that 
you will know a lot of solutions and I hope that's so. I have a home 
business of putting out documents and newsletters and need to keep my 
computer going.

I have a Power Macintosh G3 which runs on a 266 MHz processor and has 
576MB of memory. The hard disk is divided into the following sections:

Mac OSX 10.2.8 with 6.8GB (1.3 GB Free)
Mac Storage with 43.6 GB (41.7 GB Free)
Mac OS 9.2 with 6.8 GB (5.6 GB Free)

When I am in Mac OSX, the computer seems to run more slowly every day. 
Mail and Word for Mac are particularly slow and I sometimes lose Word 
when I am working on charts. A check with Norton Disk Doctor does not 
reveal any problems and only light fragmentation.

Could it help to move things to Mac Storage to give more room to OSX? 
What kinds of things can I move?

Thanks for any thoughts you may have.

Muddled in the Midwest