XP issue- MSE failing to start on PC boot

I suppose I've gotten used to a lot of the features Windows 7 has, and I haven't used XP in almost 4 years. I've never had to defrag my Gateway as it handles that daily on its own.

I know XP was well liked, but compared to 7 I wonder how much of that is actual features vs nostalgia goggles? Having an older OS for older games is good but XP is really bare bones and lacking in certain things that 7 does well.

Defrag is 55% done, will report back when it finishes.

I actually bought this to have a secondary PC in addition to Windows XP, in the event my Gateway goes under(which has happened twice already).

57% done, it's compacting files which looks like it'll take awhile.

Finished, I rebooted. It's telling me I don't need to run defrag again when I try and is showing 0% fragmentation.

Some things seem faster now. I'm still having that right click oddity with desktop icons, though it's only the first time I right click that icon after a restart. Some have the hourglass for 3-5 seconds, one icon has it for around 10-15 seconds. Subsequent right clicking on an icon is fast, so maybe it's a RAM/memory thing, having to load up something or whatever first time. Not that I need to right click those shortcuts in normal use.

I'm running XP with the classic theme to try and cut down on resources as well as some other minor things. Not sure how much that helps though.

MSE hasn't given me hassle since the reinstall. I guess I could run memtest once I get some blank CDs to burn it to, though I was considering upgrading RAM to maximum for this PC anyway. Most of the games I play don't even need the 2 GB I have now, but if I want to run MapleStory I may need the extra power. Mind you, for the purpose I bought it for- older games- it's working well so far despite a few headaches. Bashing a PCI slot blower to fit into the back of the case was a bit of a trick as well.

I'll monitor the system's performance for the next few days and make a note to defrag maybe every week.

Semi-related issue with the same PC

If I turn that Dell on at least once a day, MSE works fine. If I go at least a day without turning it on, MSE stays red at start, but will go green if I go into Windows Update and install the updated definitions. As I only use that PC for gaming now I don't always have it on. I've read this is a common issue with MSE on XP though.