I understand what you are talking about. I rather use an Amiga then a PC, because PC has very much problems with MS Windows. Even XP Professional doesn't work very well.
I want to know what you folks are doing to get such horrible results with newer machines. As much as I hate to admit it, my current x86 workstation (which is usually booted into WinXP Pro) is a TON more stable than ANY Amiga I've ever owned.
That list includes my tank of an A500, the "Flagship A2000 Professional," my little speed-demon 1200, AND my A4000/CSMK2-060/CV64-3D.
Right now, my XP box has 2 weeks uptime going. That's not two weeks of idling, but two weeks of running BitTorrents of MST3k DAP episodes, running Papyrus NASCAR 2003, netKar, the odd game of UT2004, web-browsing, e-mail, video encoding, and sound editing.
The only reason my uptime is "only" two weeks is I installed some new video codecs and had to reboot for the changes to take effect. Usually uptime is over a month, with no noticable drop in framerates in games. Heck, I don't even pause/stop my BitTorrents before playing games, anymore. With the HyperThreading on a P4, it's the smoothest, fastest modern workstation I've ever used. In fact, it's the first PC running Windows that I can honestly say multi-tasks better than my A4000.
The most stable of my bunch of Amigas was the A2000, which could run a BBS for about a month before memory fragmented enough you needed to reboot it. And even then, it was only about half the time it made it that far. Sometimes it would just guru on it's own. And if I was doing any amount of multi-tasking on it, forget it. Reboot weekly or sooner.
When I was heavily using my A4000, I could get a full day's work before a reboot, which was quite good compared to a 486 running Windows 3.1 (which was "state of the art" at that time.) But no match for a modern workstation. Like I said, I'm on two weeks on this PC, right now.
Don't get me wrong, Amigas are typically quite stable, but they just don't hold a candle to a well built current system.
99% of the instability people encounter can be blamed on one of four things:
1) Poor quality PC components.
A PC is only as good as it's worst component. You know that $15 power supply? It's a problem. You know that el-cheapo no-name RAM? That's a problem, too. The SiS chipset motherboard? You guessed it -- problem.
2) Virus/spyware/software problems.
It goes without saying that viruses, spyware, and improper sotware versions will hurt system stability. Keeping a clean system with the proper versions of programs for your OS helps a TON!
3) Improper Windows configuration.
Windows installs lots of services and junk. Some of it you need, some of it you don't. If you just blindly enable everything, your system will run really slow and be a magnet for viruses. If you blindly DISABLE everything, your system will ALSO run really poorly, and crap will crash at odd times for no apparent reason. You need to sort out exactly what each service does and determine if you need it or not. Over time, I've best learned that you want to tweak much more than "mass disable."
And, usually, running one of those "XP Lite" or other programs designed to rip out chunks of Windows is a horrible idea, stability wise. Sure, it's fun to feel like you're flipping off Bill Gates, but in the end, you're the sucker. Stuff expects to find certain files and versions in certain places. If they're missing, modified, or an earlier version, problems ensue.
4) Driver issues.
You need to have proper drivers for everything. Just because something "works" doesn't mean it's working right. Personally, I prefer reference drivers for video over the OEM versions. They are usually newer, faster and more stable.
Following these simple rules can give you uptimes of months on end, as well. It's really not difficult.
