A new XP installation should be taken to the Windows Update site for update treatment. I did one earlier in the week and it was short of 42 critical updates, 16 discretionary updates and 2 drivers were out of date.
At the very least you should have SP1 installed. Best to be on Broadband; it takes hours even then.
XP is Microsoft's best yet. But if you think it's that's bad, you can always go back to 3.11 - Windows for Worgroups.
