Do I need to upgrade my Software ,System ?

1) When it comes to windowsXP yes even tho a big chunk is dedicated to Internet Explorer fixes and doesn't effect you if you use a different browser "cough" Firefox "cough" there are still system level fixes to the system.

2) Video Drivers - Well if everything is working satisfactory Why?, But if you are experiencing unexplained slowdown's,glitches ,etc ... Then yes

3) Antiviral,Anti Spam,Anti Ads and firewalls Always.

4) Motherboard BIOS No. (unless again it is determined to be the source of mysterious shutdown's,reboot,etc... I would look into bad ram or power supply first). And it is the most dangerous last resort since you can "Brick" your motherboard and it is DEAD! RIP if you don't know what you are doing goes for flashing your dvd burner too.

To upgrade or not to upgrade has always to me been a shooting match for me. Will it fix it or will it cause more problems than there was? There are ton's of threads in forums of people complaining of a upgrade breaking their system especially Video drivers which seem to be the number one offender.

And keep in mind why am I experiencing this problem? Did I just install a program? Have I been changing system settings and "tweaking" my system?

For me it is not good enough just to upgrade "cuz it says so" is not a wise unless you know why.

And don't forget google it is your friend. What is that thing? A process called alg.exe running in my task manger. Well just google it there are sites which keep a description of processes to help find adware and spyware that could be slowing down your system.

Take a look at what's running on startup and running in your systray. Do I need multiple anti this and that. Do I need quicktime icon in my systray? Disable them stop software from starting up until you need them. I have seen people's machine with 15-20 things running when they should only have about 5-10 things running.

Run a Disk defrag and a registry cleaner on a regular basis like once a month or two.

Remember "If it Ain't Broke Fix It with a update " can cause more problems than it is worth.