I would really like to know why does linux access the >disk
so much (in
GUI mode) to fire-up even a small application like terminals windows? What is it that it reads/writes so much? This is irrespective of m/c configuration.
My swap is 4 times the RAM still i also face the same problem...
Why do you need a swap 4 times the RAM? Do you need a swap at all? How much RAM do you have? The 2.4.x pre kernels might have had a logic for the swap = 2xRAM rule, but what now? Unless you are seriously short of RAM, and use a tonload of swap, there is no need to use a lot of swap. And if you really have that less RAM, then you should'ntbe complaining about "speed" issues. Also, for special purposes like suspend to disk/ACPI on laptops, you might have a case for swap = 2x ram.
The installation howto was written when people used 4M-32M RAM, we've come a long way after that. Maybe the howto needs updation.