I'm pretty familiar with basic movie editing but need suggestions to reach a new level.

Right now I use Windows' Movie Maker for everything. My camera is some sort of Sony camcorder (tape). Please keep in mind that I don't intend to spend over $200, and really am shooting for free.

This is what my camcorder looks like, only it's a little older.

My Camcorder

Can anyone suggest a movie-editing program that has more features than Windows' movie maker?

Can you suggest a great sound editing program?

The video quality I have is pretty bad. Is there something on the computer or on the camcorder I can change for better picture quality?

I would like to buy a boom or microphone to use for movies. Would I be able to use it with my current configuration?

Any help I can get will be greatly appreciated.

iMovie. Absolutely and utmost the best. I'm not sure how much it costs (or if it works on nonMacs (probably)), but it has an incredible amount of features and is very easy to use.

Then for sound, either Audacity or Sound Studio. There are probably better programs but I love how these are set up.

I'm not quite sure about the boom though..

Thanks for the advice. I do use audacity sometimes.