troubleshooting macbook pro

Hi there,

I am running a macbook pro with Mac OS 10.5.8,

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,5

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz

Am having lots of trouble with beachballs and not sure how to fix them, have figured that the system could do with an upgrade and have ordered the software cd for snow leopard, however that order does not look like it will be fulfilled until mid november. I dont know that the upgrade will even fix the problem but it seemed a good place to start.

In the Interim, I need to start trouble shooting to see what may be causing the beachballs, they appear in all the programs that i use, safari, photoshop openoffice so that makes me think that its a global issue.

Can you kindly point me in the right direction to troubleshoot this issue ?

thanks