SLOW as MOLASSES...beachball when using TextEdit!

Please help!

I've got a 2.4Ghz 17" Macbook Pro w/ a 160GB drive and 4GB of RAM. Currently running fully updated 10.5.6 and am experiencing SUPER SLOW machine over the past 2 weeks, with 'beachball' galore, even when i'm just slowly typing using TextEdit, Mail, or Firefox (even when they're the only things running). Increased crashes of programs, and "Programs not responding."

"Login Items" on my account are "iTunesHelper", "AdobeResourceSynchronizer", and "Microsoft AU Daemon."

I've used 112GB of the 160GB drive. The "Disk Utility" shows "S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified".

Shots of my "Activity Monitor" attached.

I've never used any kind of 'cleanup' or 'spyware detection' programs...

Desperately seeking advice and troubleshooting!

may be you can try to verify and repair disk permissions, does wonders sometimes... though i think it would be even better to install the os x again..

I'd also try to replace your PowerPC apps with Intel native alternatives. PowerPC apps need to be translated to run on your system and the rosetta engine that enables that can be a bit of a resource hog.

I would also look into OnyX and/or MainMenu to run some maintenance on your Mac.