Random Lockup When Playing/using Windows Software?

Unfortunately I'm not getting any BSOD's or error messages of any kind. Using Windows 7: 32 bit (I have no logical reason other than ignorance at the time for the 32 bit, and only laziness is keeping me from reinstalling to 64).

I started noticing the issue when playing the onine MMO called Rift. The computer locked up a few times during play there, but then that stopped (I'm trying to pull this from memory...the issue has been going on for several months now). After it stopped locking up in Rift, I thought the issue was gone, but it would lock up tight when I'd play one of the card games that are installed with windows! The issue became a real problem when I started playing Age of Empires Onlilne (another microsoft product). I might go 10 minutes playing the game before it locks up tight, or I may go for hours (if I had to give it an average time after reboot, I'd say 40 minutes or a little less).

I NEVER get a BSOD, error message or anything else out of the ordinary. I can hit reset button to get out of the lockup, but no key functions will help me. Mouse cursor freezes/screen freezes, and I have to hit reset or on/off button to escape it.

I've updated all my drivers, used registry cleaning software (what a waste of money!), tried shutting down any background programs possible...I'm just tired of the issue, and want to fix it without total hard drive wipe. I actually bought a new hard drive and ram upgrade, and want to have a dual boot system with 64 bit installed on the second hard drive if someone can tell me how to to that setup (I think I can manage, but I'm not afraid to hear someone's instructions, when they KNOW how to do it for sure). I would still like to resolve this issue if possible. I don't know if it could be a known issue from a past security update, or something along those lines, but I know for sure that this hasn't always been an issue.

I actually ran Event Viewer to look for a repeated issue that was there many times. The one that stood out was under the information tab. There were over 1500 events in the last 7 days alone on this one hit. It was a service control manager issue (whatever that is). Under Admin. Events, there are several tags around each freeze, but I dont know if any of the information is relevant to this issue.