Yes, that helps a lot. That is a VERY slow computer, and you definitely need more ram and less demanding applications. Just look at your CPU utilization - it's maxed out at 100%. You are using a software controlled modem and the graphics chip is using shared system memory. Uninstall Zone Alarm and Norton 2003, you don't have the horsepower to run either without bringing the computer to a crawl. You also don't have the horsepower to go online and maintain a decent connection with that software modem.
Your board will accept standard PC100 SDRAM, I'd recommend a pair of 128mb low density modules and remove any EDO simms it may have in there now.
You can also upgrade the processor with just about any AMD K6/2 processor, up to 550 MHz (but cannot be run at its rated 100 FSB, the board only supports up to 83 FSB). That Cyrix you have in there now is, frankly, a dog.
Bottom line - if you want any kind of useful use with your computer, you need to do some upgrades. The onboard video also kills the overall system performance, and putting a PCI video card in will perk it right up. Toss that softmodem and look around for an old ISA bus hardware controlled modem. If you are not willing to throw some money into it to upgrade hardware, your only choice is to uninstall the modern software and find alternatives that don't require more powerful computers. Your hardware technology is about 6 years old and you cannot expect to be able to run a 2003 version of a known high footprint antivirus application or a current firewall. My laptop has similar specs (233 MHz) and has 128mb ram - and I can't run Norton 2003 on it and haven't even tried to install a firewall.
Here's a site dedicated to the care and feeding of that motherboard.
http://m571.com/m571/
That's one of the few PC Chips motherboards out there that has been reliable over the years.