Guys and girls, a few comments to reinforce on previous posts:
Clean sounding barre chords are difficult to impossible if the action on your guitar is set too high - a good set up by a good technician is really worth the money and can really push your playing on;
Not everybody's ring finger can flex enough at the top knuckle to stop the D, G and B strings at the 4th fret without dampening the top E - mine sure can't - so don't worry, play the A shape with fingers 3, 4 and 5 and barre with the index;
Many have said it - you just have to put in the practice time to get results. In the long run any short cuts or "easy" fingerings that cut the chords short will hamper your development as a guitarist and reduce the fun you can get out of what is surely the greatest of musical instruments.