Sticky system, please advise!!!

[marauding]

I am running WindowsXP.  The other day I ran Checkdisk. Diskcleanup.
DiskDefrag.  I suspect the defrag did not work properly.
I also have ZoneAlarm, AdAware, Spybot, Spyware Blaster and of course, Avast
Am I supposed to disable one of the above before running disk defrag, diskcleanup and checkdisk???
Also, my Paint program will not close anymore without help from the Task Manager.  The Paint program is not able to be used at all . 
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!
Oh, and I have Internet Explorer.  Should I really change to Firefox or Mozilla?
Please help me!!!! Thankyou.

[Max M.Wachtel III]

Start in safe mode and do your cleaning and checking,that way most everything will not be loaded.
About Paint, try removing and reinstalling it, perhaps a file has been damaged.
-max