Try Vista, then you will probably think that XP is not so bad.
More seriously, your experience with XP is NOT typical.
I installed XP on an old Pentium II 450 MHz, and while not the worlds
fastest PC, it was stable, far more stable than when I had win98 with the
same mix of programs. On a 2.5GHz Pentium 4 (single) it is really pretty
good, at least for what I do.
But, having played with several XP machines I can state emphatically that XP
loves RAM. If you do not provide it with enough, it will swap things to
disk, and that will bring any PC to its knees. How much RAM it needs
depends on what you are trying to do. To run XP, but nothing else other
than maybe antivirus, 128 Meg might work. To run XP and WORD comfortable,
raise that to 256 Meg. To run XP and a few non-graphic-intensive programs,
try 512 Meg. If you edit digital images, or want WORD to work with a lot of
graphics (e.g., tables and pictures), or edit video try 1 Gig (or more). If
you are into 3D games, moives, other video be sure to have a separate video
card with a lot of RAM of its own. Cheaper PCs often use part of the main
RAM as video RAM, and such hardware will not work as well as a separate
video card. Of course any RAM dedicated for video is not available for XP
and programs.
When you say "the hard drive goes crazy", you might be describing what
happens when XP runs out of RAM and starts swapping to disk. Use the XP
task manager (single CTRL-ALT-DEL) to view resources such as CPU, RAM, and
pagefile. If pagefile is growing while the disk is going crazy, add RAM at
least equal to the pagefile usage. If adding RAM is not possible (e.g., due
to motherboard limitations), think seriously about getting a new PC, or
resign yourself to change your usage of the PC.
Beyond that, try to turn off unnecessary processes. See Black Viper's
website for suggestions about required vs uncessary.
http://www.blackviper.com/
Additionally, do not have multiple windows open to the internet with video
streams, at least not while trying to do some intensive things.
Finally, indepedent of RAM, processor speed, etc, there seem to be some
things that can bring a PC to a near halt. These include whole-PC antivirus
scans, windows searches, copy&paste of large volumes of files, performing a
backup (copies a lot of files), etc. Never do any of these while you are
attempting to do something else. For example, set the antivirus to scan
while you are sleeping. Scan on usage is still OK, and recommended for
safety. Write CDs and DVDs when the PC is not otherwise occupied. And,
never play modern games while the PC is doing any of the above. Simple
games like freecell are OK, but even they might respond slowly.
Compared to LINUX (or win98 for that matter), XP will seem slower under
many/most conditions. You might want to consider a dual boot of XP plus any
LINUX (some free). Use LINUX except when required to do course assignments.
Of course, most games designed for XP will not run direectly under LINUX.
But, check into "WINE", or search gaming forums for advice.
Finally, have you tested your hardware to see whether there are any physical
problems (e.g., bad spots on disk, or in RAM)? If not, that might be useful
to rule out hardware (or rule in and then paln on repairing). Check out the
diagnostic tools available here (many free):
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads7.html