Jeff,
Everything is good now. Upgraded Vista to Service Pack 2, IE 9 has been installed, third party applications updated, outdated/unused software removed, hard disk has been defragged and the registry has been cleaned. I just gave the laptop back to it's owner and provided an explanation of what tasks I performed, with your assistance of course. I also shared some of your recommendations. Thank you Sir!
Polonus, thanks to you as well. Working on this machine just solidified my reasons for becoming a Linux user!
Take care guys. I am going back to lurking mode and hopefully I won't have to ask for assistance any time soon. It's great to know that if I do need help that there are people like you available.....