How can I fix the slow freezing text messaging app on my MyTouch 3G Slide? I have a MyTouch 3G Slide w/ Android 2.2 and am having issues with the text messaging freezing up all the time and running incredibly slow. If I try to delete all the texts, the messaging application will continue to show the circular thinking pattern for over an hour and never delete all the texts. I ended up having to delete 3 texts at a time and waiting 5 minutes each time.... It's really frustrating... I have tried handcent sms and have the same issues with it

1) Is there a fix for slow/freezing text messaging other than factory reset?

2) Is there an app that deletes text messages over 2 weeks old? 

3) Is there a better text messaging app than the onboard android messaging application for android 2.1 with better reliability, ease of use, and speed?
Handcent SMS is the most oft-recommended SMS replacement app on this site, so it's probably good to try.  If you have no issues with it, then I would assume it's just a buggy SMS app that you have and not a deeper problem.

If you don't mind losing all your messages you could try going to Settings -&gt; Applications -&gt; Manage applications, finding the SMS app ("Messaging" or similar), and clearing the data for it. There may also be something like "Messaging Storage" that you need to clear.

I don't know of any app that will improve performance of the existing app, and replacing a messaging app can be tricky.  I'd recommend a custom ROM that has had some of these bugs worked out.  This XDA topic has a good overview of ROMs for your device.