I've used Windows XP since the day it was first released, and have only had one game not run which was Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed, which now works because of patch put out recently. You should not be having so many problems with your games or hardware, so I don't think it's a OS issue but rather a piece of bad hardware that is causing your problems. List your hardware, and the problems you are having, and maybe some of us here can help.