As far as malware goes, you are good to go:bigthumb:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa269f18-3d2b-814e-8409-4d1b66f4a4bc.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/sp2_whattoknow.mspx
Thanks
I suppose that is possible for a Gateway, and a computer that probably had Windows 98 on it orignally. At that point 512 MB's was a lot of ram. Perhaps it's time to think about a new computer. Windows XP will run fine with 512 MB's but the overall performance will be effected by how much stuff you are running with it.At least, that's what Gateway had in the documentation. It'll be six years old in June.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa269f18-3d2b-814e-8409-4d1b66f4a4bc.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/sp2_whattoknow.mspx
Thanks