I got to go with Peeoer's on this one. If I want to read a book I'll use the real thing. I just got a SanDisk Fuze with an expandable sd micro slot and love it. I mainly got it to play music but it will do it all. It was on sale at wallyworld.com for $48.
Do you have a cable coming from the out side to a modem on the inside of the house? If so how far are you from it? I don't under stand the concept of the antenna in the tree to get the signal to you. I'm on a router and can pick up signal 60 feet away outside the house.
Doesn't the Road Runner cable go to the modem in the house? Why is your router in a tree? I might be reading it wrong so you will have to explane better.
SIW - System Information for Windows
http://www.gtopala.com/
The program is compatible with Windows 7 now! I gives you a lot more information than Everest. Plus its free!
If you want to totally erase the hard drive before trying to install XP use Boot & Nuke. I will get rid of everything and then you can do a clean install.
http://www.dban.org/