Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.
1 gig is most likely enough. If it's cheaper (I imagine it is) to by 2*512 now, and if you want to upgrade later, another 2*512, you might just want to do that.
I believe that certain institutions sell their retail licences of XP below the cost they paid. When a large university buys, oh, 10,000 licences, I would imagine they'd get a better discount, too.
Try going into the bios and switching the boot squence on the hard drives. Check if by temporalily unplugging the new harddrive allows the computer to boot. Most likely, it is looking for the OS on the wrong drive. If you cannot properly change the boot order, a good program is Smart Boot...
I some how doubt that the X2's will reach a reasonable price (i.e. near the current price of the 3500) within a year after their still unnamed release date
For a mouse, I recommend the MX1000, if you are willing to spend that much. I have a 19" CRT monitor, the Samsung 997DF, which is really quite nice, and inexpensive.