Solution.
I only registered with this website in order to assist anyone else who has this problem. I did, and I fixed it. I am not a computer expert, but I know how to find the information I want.
A google search on various phrases-- "taskbar freezes," "erratic mouse behavior," "windows xp taskbar problems"-- came up with many different possibilities.
It turns out this is a fairly rare issue.
The most common suggested solutions were these:
-Decrease cpu load (which CAN freeze the taskbar)... by elminating unnecessary programs from loading at startup.
-Install more ram. (Again, an issue related to load).
-Uninstall Norton Antivirus.
-More stuff, network related.
Among my searching, I notice a couple recurring peculiarities. For one, people had either installed some kind of antivirus (usually Norton). Another recurring theme is that people had installed microsoft's service pack 2 (which, as far as I can tell, does some annoying network junk that doesn't help the home user much?) The third peculiarity is that many of the people had built their own computer, and they didn't have the problem at first.
So.
Most of these people did not have cpu or load issues (neither did I, for the record; I built my computer with an asus socket 939 mobo, athlon 64 3500+, and 1gb of pc4000 kingston hyperx ram).
So the first two suggested solutions would not work.
However, when it came to the antivirus, a couple people mentioned something about "auto update."
Also, some people mentioned something about Windows Update.
Internet related stuff.
At last, I found some thread about NIC cards ("network interface card cards"... heh, yes, the crap is redundant).
People found that when they disabled the NIC card, they did not have the taskbar freezing problem.
I found the same when I tried.
In Device Manager my card was listed as Intel 21041-based PCI Ethernet Adaptor. Which sounds way too generic to me. I pulled the card out of my comp (a carry-over from my last computer, a Dell), and its barcode read "Farallon 8960785-00-02"... which I discovered, after some research, is from a no-good company based off of mars that keeps changing its name.
It's now practically extinct, having been taken over by Proxim. Which is still no-good and from mars. But at least it has a cooler name.
The problem? Very user-friendly (hah) Windows XP was installing the wrong driver by default.
The card I have by Farallon is so old that there aren't any Windows XP drivers for it.
Proxim's website didn't have my drivers. I had so much trouble finding exactly what I needed. Finally, I find one that MIGHT work at driverguide.com. And when I tried to run the setup? It said some crap about a LAN board not being found. Or whatever.
So, frustrated at Farallon and Proxim and beautiful women all over the world, I right clicked on the .inf file and installed it anyway. Just for the hell of it.
And voila. It worked. It's been fine for days now.
Conclusion:
Many people who had built their own computers had this problem because they used generic network cards from their old computers.
Pull your network card out of your computer. Use its barcode and brand name to locate the correct drivers via driverguide.com. Find SOME WAY to install the driver. And hit on that hot chick you see everyday because you're so happy your computer works.
Feel free to email me and tell me how much you love me, if this helps you.
esssek@hotmail.com