Why remove it?
If you only use it for relatively safe online email and FR it is unlikely you will get any virus.
Just turn off all the services sucking RAM and processor speed and that should keep it running fine. I use a laptop only a generation or two newer to run several machines in my shop and XP has been very stable.
One thing to consider depending on how much you value your time is if you just want it for browsing and email you can pick up very nice tablets for under $200. It will take a good 4 to 5 hours to wipe out and reinstall an OS on an old laptop. If it was my time it wouldn’t be worth the heartbeats.
or use Windows offline and launch Linux to go online.