Wireless card recommendations?

Hey guys, I'm looking for a new wireless network card. I had an old D-link b/g something or other, but it finally cratered. I think it was because I had it deactivated while I was using a lan cable for 2 years. Well, I moved to a new place and now I want to run the wireless, since routing the cable would be cumbersome. I picked up an Airlink card at Fry's because they had it on sale for $7.99. It's fine when it's connected, but it only stays connected for a few minutes at a time. The drivers also cause restarts every now and then. Is there anything I can do to make this Airlink card work better? If not, I'll just get a new one because this one was only 8 bucks. If you think I should get a new card, what brands do you recommend that won't drop the signal every few minutes?

I guess for a little background, we have a netgear wireless router, and I'm probably 20-25 feet from it, kind of around the corner, and through a doorway. My roommate just updated the firmware on the router, and I'm running a Windows XP desktop system with service pack 3.

Maybe it's just me but I've always preferred the actual PCI cards over the USB to Wi-Fi adapters that are out there. Also, expect absolutely lousy Linux support if you get anything with a Broadcom chipset on it.