u got 1 ghz computer, that's good. u should be able to run games with good graphix like hitman 2 or unreal2 with high setting.

i got 750mhz 600mb ram and they run good. i think u should disable all backround running programs except sys trays. go to start, then run, and type in msconfig, after that go to startup tabs. uncheck all programs in list except sys tray then restart computer.

maybe it's your cd rom drive. is it quad speed?