Laptop trouble

My laptop is 4 years old now, but apart from getting a bit slower it's been doing fine - until now. Over the last few days it's been really, really slow. It's now got to the point where it's taking 20 to 30mins to start up, which is just ridiculous. Then once it's turned on, it is really really slow to do anything. Last night I ran a virus check overnight, as I thought it might be a virus. But the scan didn't find anything. So I don't know what the problem is, which is very frustrating. I'm writing this from the family computer as I just haven't got the patience for mine at the mo. Tomorrow morning I'm going into town (to try to find a copy of Middlesex and to buy Lily Allen's new album), as I don't start lessons til 11.20am. So I'm going to pick up an external hard drive too, so I can back up my laptop and then completely wipe it to see if that solves the problem. If that doesn't work I don't know what else I could try.

This morning I babysat for H again, and it was great - we just played on the Wii together for 3 and a half hours, and I got paid for it! :D This afternoon I was going to go to the cinema, but decided against it as I seem to have a lot to do. I've been getting a bit more organised for Japan, as we go in less than 4 days! I can't believe how quickly it's approaching. And I also need to do some school work that I keep putting off. I've got my mock IOC tomorrow, so I want to do a bit more preparation for that now that my York Notes study guide has arrived. And I was planning to have completed 5 biology experiment write ups for Tuesday (my last day at school before Japan). But 2 are half done and I've not even started 3 of them yet, so I need to speak to my teacher to find out when they actually have to be completed and handed in by, as Tuesday's not looking very realistic. I think it might actually be just after half term, but I don't want to have to work on them in Japan.