Which Windows version is best for this laptop?

So, I just picked up this laptop: Processor: 1600 MHz | RAM: 896 MB
It used to be running Windows XP, but before I got my hands on it, the previous owner decided to install Windows 7 Ultimate, along with Norton antivirus software.
From what I can tell, the machine is running incredibly slow—like, painfully sluggish. A buddy of mine suggested that the issue might be that the antivirus is too heavy-duty, or perhaps that the operating system is just way too demanding for these specific specs.
Do you think he's onto something?

I mean, I think your buddy has a point—that setup is pretty ancient and is probably struggling just to stay afloat. Honestly, the best move would have been to throw Windows XP on there, but since Microsoft isn't supporting it anymore, you might as well jump straight to Windows 7. If you go with the Starter edition and disable all those resource-heavy features, it should run much smoother. Or, if you end up using Windows 7 Ultimate, you can follow the steps in this link to turn off those extra options and see if that helps you out.

http://www.techulator.com/resources/...Windows-7.aspx

Man, that guy is out of his mind—trying to cram "Windows 7 Ultimate" and Norton onto a single 1 GB drive? That’s just asking for trouble.
I completely agree that you'd get much better performance if you stuck with "Windows 7 Starter."
Plus, you really should pick an antivirus that won't hog all your resources; personally, I’d suggest "Bitdefender Free Edition". It’s what I use on my own machine, and honestly, I barely even notice it running in the background.

With a CPU and RAM setup that weak, you might want to look into some kind of Linux distro.