Why won't Minecraft work on my windows XP?

Well here's my problem.. I go into single player, and minecraft works perfectly fine, then I try to go into multiplayer, and as soon as I join a server minecraft closes.. no error messages etc. It closes just like someone pressed Alt+F4. So I was wondering...

does it?

it doesn't show up.

I'm thinking of getting minecraft for my windows XP but I want to know if that will work. Will it work without lag and if not how much lag will i have on a scale of one to ten

I have windows xp (take a second to laugh at me) ok seriously i cant play the downloaded version of minecraft it always gives me black screen and it used to work, so i don't know whats happening HELP!

I have DSL and I tried playing minecraft online to see how much i would like it. Well it started ok and then froze up a few mins as i was getting into the game. Will the game work faster if i download it? And where can I get MC for free? I have windows...

i just downloaded windows 8 consumer preview and I like it exept I cant get minecraft to work. it says to update video card drivers. I have 4 gb ram, and used to have windows 7 home premium, my system is 64 bit with intel core i3. I don't currently know...

ive got an old computer which has millenium edition, it works perfectly with internet, however im planning to upgrade it to xp, my only problem is will windows ME programmes like i have the installation cd's for printer, scanner, create cd which is like...