The jack on the back of my computer has no static and provides great sound, but the easy-access jack in the front of the computer has bad static. I can hear even more static when I minimize/maximize windows. Odd... I noticed that this happens to my school's computers too. What's causing the problem? Is it because I only have onboard audio?

definetly not because its onboard audio...

Have you got the front audio wiring plugged in correctly?

Do you still get sound or just static?

I don't think it's the wiring. I tried all the school computers (20 or more) and my own and they all do this. What are the chances that everyone has bad wiring?

I can hear music from the quick access jack, but it's has static and seems to get more static when you move around windows on the screen.

The connections on the back are part of the motherboard. The connections on the front are connected to the motherboard by a wire. Either the wire is poorly shielded from interference (most likely), or the connections are not properly seated.

Exactly, an unshielded audio wire provides bad audio, and all sort of electromagnetic interference causes the static that you hear.

I remember this problem from years ago. It went away with new psu, a win2k os. Between software and volt regulation (like cpu throttling) there was a layer "wide open" and should not have been. That incident with same symptoms (as thread poster) motivated me to go for a good case with its original power, nt kernel os, and my favorite: apc ups. I also got the antec cobra grounded ide cable for hdd(someone truly knew what they were doing there...)
I also use a radio that gathers "it" in the switch. I lose one channel and flick the on/off for radio and back to awesome sound again. I also have onboard sound (excellent).can listen forever. no oddities at all.
A common quick fix, check how much the psu is putting out. They can ;literally be way too freakin big by the moron who thinks 900 watts is gonna fix everything.
I thought this problem was dead along time ago...

How do I shield the wire? What do I have to buy?