If you've got a spare USB drive laying around, hold onto it till you start running Windows Vista. Using Vista's new ReadyBoost feature, a spare USB 2.0 key with enough space can speed up the OS performance.
Thanks for the tip but how much faster can it be? When I shelled out a dime for a Vista machine I kind of expected to be done with the coathanger-antenna stuff. I admit my pc does make me wait to open apps from time to time.