Question : troubleshoot slow macbook pro pinwheel

I have a macbook pro 2.4ghz duo with 2gb ram.  computer is all of a sudden very slow.  slow booting up, slow opening programs, I get the pinwheel spinning a lot.  

What are the steps (and what order) to take to troubleshoot this computer?  Do I "repair permissions"?  I have DiskWarrior but don't know how to use it.

Answer : troubleshoot slow macbook pro pinwheel

Yes a repair permission is a good place to start and that will help. Also when I have this problem on my Mac Book nothing like a good ol fashion defrag to get stuff working better and will be able to do that from disk warrior