Do you know your laptop can slow itself down?

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Although my main computer is a desktop, I also have a laptop, a Dell Latitude D600 that I keep in my bedroom. These are very old computers now (circa 2004), and underpowered for today's environment. For example, my laptop runs Windows XP, and even though I've given it the max amount of RAM it can take, it still huffs and puffs running my browser on the internet. Well, I just found out why. It's not the RAM, it's the CPU speed. Although the CPU is rated at 1.6 GHZ, apparently the machine downgrades CPU speed when it gets too hot. Right now it's running at just 593 MHZ (you can check this by going to Properties under My Computer). I downloaded a Dell fix that's supposed to correct the problem, but although it ran faster immediately after the patch was installed, it still slows down when the machine gets hot. When I power down and let the laptop cool off, it runs at its rated speed, but as it heats up, the speed slows down. I'm not sure what else I can do. I've put something under the laptop to lift it off the table, which hopefully will allow it to run cooler. We'll see if that works.