Technical advice.....

I have several recurring problems while playing SL.
#1 - My computer will freeze up - display a collage of colors and symbols and I am forced to reboot.
#2 - My mouse will get real jerky - if i dont reboot immediately it will freeze altogether. If i exit while mouse is doing this, it remains this way in Windows.
#3 - Textures such as wood are screwed up, I see red lines and they "flutter" at junctions. Particularly complex or wooden textures.

OK I think I know the main reason for this....(Video Card)

I have a P4 1.6 GHz- 768 M RAM - 40 GB hardrive w/ only 2-5 gigs free space (dread cleaning out) - a ATI Radeon All In Wonder 8500 64MB VC Running Windows 2000 Proffesional

I crash at least once an hour.

I recently received a sale paper selling a BFG Asylum GeForce FX 5200 ABP 128MB card- for $60.00.

Will this improve my performance or stability?
If not , any cheap suggestions?

That GeForce 5200 card is a step in the right direction. ATI All-In-Wonder cards are more like Jack-of-All-Trades cards. They have ok gaming performance, but they are meant to be more of a multimedia card.

One of my machines has an ATI 8500LE 128 mb. It can run SL, but it doesn't do it well. Keep in mind that the 8000 series ATI cards are already a couple of years old.

On the other hand, GeForce 5200 cards aren't exactly state of the art, but they can handle SL. I take it that money is an issue here, so I will not suggest a 5600, 5700 or 5900 card. Also, if you intend on playing lots of SL, any current Nvidia card is a good choice.

The 5200 is the Ford Pinto of the FX series. Get at least a 5600.