Welcome back to Flight simming, Tim :)
Too bad that you got laid off, hope you will get some good compensation until you have a new job.
So, the good thing now is, that you got plenty of time for installing and tweaking Windows, FSX and addon's, because it could become a long hairy affair.

I am relatively new in CS aircraft, so I may be in the same boat as you. I found the easiest way to start off is the 707 and 737, using conventional VOR/NDB navigation. Next step is navigation with the CIVA-INS in the 707.
And finally, using FMC in the 757,767 and 777, where I still am on the learning curve. I read the 757 tutorial in here, and also the 767 tutorials by Mark regarding missing end of route and missing top of descent, very, very helpful!
Last but not least, you should read Nick N's Hardware and FSX guide over at simforums. His guide helped me to get descent performance out of my older rig with all CS aircraft.

Best Regards
Anders