From my experience home pc sims are of limited value. IMC flying can be dangerous for the inexperienced, and there is no real substitute (short of a full motion sim) for getting up there and doing it.
On that point, I would recommend that you get an instructor that will actually take you into the clag - far too many IMC instructors like to stick you under the hood and only take you up on nice smooth VMC days. It is possible to gain your IMC rating without ever having truly flown in IMC. In this scenario, an inexperienced IMC pilot can very easily become overloaded and panic if he/she has to cope with some real weather.
Don't be put off though - my instructor took me up at night in the most crappy weather he could find, it was very hard work at first but I soon got used to it. For example one evening about 6 hours into the course, we where bouncing out of the zone when I was puzzled a number of radio calls from a VMC training detail requesting return to the field due to a puking student. My instructor told me he had heard the other instructor recommend that the PPL lesson be abandoned due to the turbulent conditions, but the student had insisted on giving it a try. I sudddenly realized that I was no longer phased by such conditions and I was actually quite comfortable - it put quite a smile on my face.
Another thing my 'git' of an instructor did was train me as much as possible to IR standards, e.g. if he was visual at 500' then he made me continue down to 200' before deciding. My straight and level had to be maintained to +50' -0 or I lost fingers! By the time I took the test, it seemed like a walk in the park, and I now pride myself on my ability to fly in IMC with a high degree of accuracy. I also achieved this in minimum hours.
Finally and most importantly - be prepared. Before each lesson make sure you have the relevant chapters from the book burned into your brain - if you don't fully understand the lesson then don't fly it. The best way of wasting money is to sit there in the aircraft not having a clue what you are supposed to be doing!!!!