Make sure all user accounts are password protected.

Are you trying to connect to your home network?

I made a mistake once...

Oh, dear me.
"Deel"? "Soundcard"?
Caperjack got it mostly right, though.
At the Dell site, use your service tag to identify the proper adapter, then download the driver.

In Disk management, rt-click and select "Explore".

OK, you see it, but what does it say about partitions, file type, space, etc.? (All drives are partitioned, it's just a matter of how many).

It sounds as though the drive needs to be formatted. You may have accidentally deleted the partition when you reinstalled.
What info do you see in Disk management?

I wouldn't say it's "better", but it does seem to be very stable and driver/program support is excellent.
That said, I expect dual-booting is the way to go, as it will expire next year.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx

"Should I install Vista on my new SATA HDD, plug in my PATA HDD to the system & expect to have access to everything?"
In a word, yes. XP Programs won't work of course, and you need to be sure the...

Right side up/Front to front.
You should be able to feel it slide into the slot.

Is it oriented properly when you insert it?
Have you tried it in another computer?

Uninstall the drive and reboot.
If it doesn't automatically reinstall, you may need to reinstall the drivers.

Here you go:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9001970

PH: Purple Heart
CIB: Combat Infantry Badge

This is very cool software that allows you to run a different operating system(s) on your computer. It's called "virtual" because it runs in memory, not from the HD. It's not like dual booting or...

See this page for Dell's XP offers:
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/winxp_inspn?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&redirect=1