XP to Vista

Will upgrading my OS benefit me in ways of:

1) Accessing programs
2) Accessing websites
3) Surfing the Internet

Since recently purchasing and installing MS Office Pro 2003 on my computer
(1 G processor; 512K memory), my system "crawls." I have plenty of free hard
drive space, so this isn't the problem. Further, since installing this
program, it takes much longer to bring up websites, etc., which shouldn't (in
my opinion) have anything to do with the MS Office installation. I blamed it
on my DSL, but they said that there is a problem with my computer, because
the connection speed is fast (3,000-6,000 mps) and what takes so long is
accessing the Internet initially, not after connection has been made. I know
that some websites are very sluggish (I notice this on Microsoft, MSN, eBay,
etc.), but this slowdown is driving me up the wall! Will a faster processor,
more memory (I'm maxed out on this 5-year-old system), or advanced Vista OS
resolve my problem(s)? I want to buy a new computer, but if Vista is going to
be faster than XP, I want to wait until the final release.

Thanks!