My 'puter had a brain transplant and an unclogging of the arteries

Until last week, my primary computer had a 1.8 Ghz Pentium 4 processor. A few months ago , I bought an Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz processor as a mid-life kicker. I carefully read the instructions, and decided that it was way too risky for me to attempt to install the upgrade myself. The instructions were something along the lines of "remove everything from the motherboard and gently pry the old processor out, taking care not to damage the motherboard".
I put the processor away - and then I noticed a sign at CompUSA - "Parts installation - $29.95". I asked if that included parts not purchased from the store - sure, I was told. Processor chip? I asked - "Sure" I was told. So, last Thursday, I dropped it off on the way to the city.
Yesterday, I picked up the patient, plugged in the three external hard drives, the printer, both scanners, the iPod, the network, the two phone lines, the speakers, and finally the power.
Bingo! It works, and felt snappier. Just to convince myself that it was not an illusion, I went to the Intel site to find the Processor Identification Utility. I came to this page:

http://support.intel.com/support/processors/pentium4/software.htm#id

and spotted the "Intel Application Accelerator".

The description said:

"The Intel® Application Accelerator replaces the ATA drivers that come with Windows* with drivers optimized for desktop and mobile PCs using select Intel® chipsets. It reduces the storage sub-system bottleneck, enabling the processor and other system level hardware to be more productive and efficient. It is not a requirement for your operating system to work properly."

Sounded like a good thing, so I went ahead and installed it (several steps and checks involved). If you try it, read ALL the "Readme"s and Release Notes to ensure compatibility with your system.
My system really hums now - - I won't need a new one until my major apps support dual processors and Windows Vista has had the bugs shaken out.