Slow Mac - suddenly!

Hi guys - new to the forum. Perhaps someone could help out on this. I have a Macbook 2Ghz, 2 GB Ram, OSx 10.5.8. I recently downloaded the Sophos Anti virus, which rendered my machine incredibly slow. Unfortunately there was no "uninstall" option, so I chucked everything into the trash and deleted it. Since then, my machine is running sluggish, which a lot of colour wheel activity. Is there some sort of code in some sort of root canal that needs to be deleted? How can I get my machine back to speed? Format an option? I dont mind tossing everything and loading it back from time machine... Any and all ideas are welcome! Thanks!

Get rid of that antivirus quickly by using AppTrap or AppDelete. It may be necessary to again install the software. What you are seeing is so very typical of AV clogging up the operating system. If the worst comes to the worst, be ready for an erase and clean install.

Have a read of this, particularly relating to Sophos, which a couple of years old but still applies today.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10331147-263.html?tag=mfiredir