have you scanned for viruses/spyware ? have you used cablenut? RR is cable, so if theyre are many users in your area you will not get the advertised speed
if you have 1gig of ram or more, you can turn your paging file off, although some pc games do require you have a paging file no matter what, but if your like me and don't play computer games you can turn it off to get a speed incrase for daily browsing and stuff like that
lol, i didn't really think you would use my lighter fluid suggestion, but eh that hardrive looks owned now! you could also try pouring some drano on it and putting some aluminum foil in the bucket, it sould go booM! be very careful though, as you could get hurt bad