Sonar moving slow...Problem deleting old files

Hi there, I am using an old version of Sonar (Sonar 4 Producers Edition)...I know it's way out of date, but it's always worked great for me...

Lately my program has been freezing up and has to load for about 30 seconds, every time I record any audio...I thought that perhaps I just had too many old files that I needed to delete, and perhaps this was slowing the program down...I went in and deleted a bunch of projects, as well as the un-used files in the "Clean Audio Folder", and still am having this problem...

It occurs to me that maybe I am not completely deleting the files? It says in the readme that after I delete them, to go into my recycle bin and empty it...but when I go there, the files are not there...Is there somewhere else these files could be? Also, I'm having a hard time locating the audio files, outside of the Clean Audio Folder...When I go into the Audio Folder, it appears to be empty, even though I know I have Tons of files...

I really just need to get my Sonar moving fast again. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much in advance.


Matt

PS: I don't think this has anything to do with the ram or memory of my DAW...I have a very fast computer with plenty of space on the hard drive.

Thanks for the reply...Yes, I have done all that. Cleaned out files, checked for viruses, de-fraged the hard-drive. It's a new computer and there is tons of space on it...The thing is, every other program on my pc runs super fast, it's just the Sonar that is doing this...I really think the program needs to be cleaned out and I am somehow not deleting the files properly...Like I said, I can't "see" any audio files in the audio folder, so how can I be sure I am deleting them? Something's just not right.

Am I wrong to think that too many files in Sonar can cause it to move slow? This 30 seconds of loading every time I hit the record button is driving me crazy and really slowing down my progress...