Check how much free space is on your hard drive. Windows needs at least 15% free to run well — it uses that space for virtual memory and the swap file. If your drive is 95% full, that alone will make everything crawl.

The best resource for this kind of thing is Tom's Hardware forums. Someone has almost certainly had your exact problem and posted a solution. The community there is really knowledgeable and helpful.

I always tell people: buy a UPS battery backup. A $40 one will protect your PC from power surges and brownouts that slowly kill your hardware. Lost a motherboard to a thunderstorm once. Never again.

Newegg is your friend for parts. Way cheaper than Best Buy or CompUSA and the customer reviews actually help you avoid junk. Just watch out for shipping on heavy stuff like CRT monitors. Read the reviews before you buy ANYTHING.

I'd recommend trying the free solution first before spending money. Nine times out of ten, the free option works just as well as the paid one. Only upgrade to paid software if the free version doesn't meet your needs.