XPPro sp2 Problems?

Hello everyone,
Well it's been quite a while since I've been to this forum. I have recently joined the ranks and purchased a new dell computer with winxp pro sp2
I have been having some problems and don't really know if they're related to hardware and/or software or spyware/malware.
First problem noticed - While on the internet - my screen froze up and then I got a blue screen error (sorry, I didn't write it down (I should know better) but since it had never happened I rebooted and had no further problems (or so I thought).
Friday - When I opened up IE6 - I received the message that it had encountered a problem and needs to close.... When I went back on the internet my computer froze up again and I had to reboot. Again, I had no further problems. I ran spybot, ad-aware, virusscan and even went to trend-micro for free scan. - No viruses were found.
Also ran pcpitstop tests - everything looks great!
Today, when trying to access my hotmail through outlook express I got the message - Outlook express has encountered a problem.....need to close.
Again, I have accessed my email since and had no further problems today.

I am running McAfee virusscan professional version 9.0 with latest update files.
I have run Spybot and Ad-aware and both are up-to-date.
When I look in event viewer I have quite a few errors. I have researched several that appear to be normal or nothing to worry about but there is an error that has me worried:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 51
Date: 02/04/2005
Time: 5:26:51 PM
User: N/A
Computer: HEXADECIMAL
Description:
An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0\D during a paging operation.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 03 00 68 00 01 00 b6 00 ..h...¶.
0008: 00 00 00 00 33 00 04 80 ....3..€
0010: 2d 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 -.......
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 68 ef 00 00 00 00 00 00 hï......
0030: ff ff ff ff 03 00 00 00 ÿÿÿÿ....
0038: 40 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 @.......
0040: 00 20 0a 12 40 03 20 40 . ..@. @
0048: 00 10 00 00 0a 00 00 00 ........
0050: 00 00 00 00 e0 77 84 85 ....àw„…
0058: 00 00 00 00 b0 75 84 85 ....°u„…
0060: 00 00 00 00 05 6d 16 00 .....m..
0068: 28 00 00 16 6d 05 00 00 (...m...
0070: 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0078: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0088: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
This error shows up quite frequently and it originally started happening back on March 18th. The same "warning" occurs 15 times on March 18th over a period of 40 seconds. It then shows as occurring 20 times on the 19th over a period of 2 minutes. On the 20th 19 times over a minute. And then - once yesterday. Yesterday my computer crashed at the same time the error occurred. I then rebooted and started searching frantically for what might be causing the error.
I really hope it's not my harddrive since this computer is only a month old but I did notice something interesting. This "warning" started right after I had created a shared folder on my harddrive. I have my computer networked with my husband's (something I have never done before) and when I crashed my husband was also using his computer. I believe his computer was also on when I crashed a couple of weeks back.
I have deleted the shared folder for now to see if that helps.
Does anyone know if this could be causing my computer to crash and why?

I know this is a long post but any suggestions would be appreciated.

Here is my latest hijackthis log. If there is anything I can delete here please let me know.

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 4:15:40 PM, on 03/04/2005
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Application Accelerator\iaanotif.exe
C:\Program Files\Intel\Modem Event Monitor\IntelMEM.exe
C:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy2ZS\Surround Mixer\CTSysVol.exe
C:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy2ZS\DVDAudio\CTDVDDET.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTHELPER.EXE
C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\DVDLauncher.exe
C:\Program Files\Dell\Media Experience\DMXLauncher.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mcagent.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswctrl.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsshld.exe
c:\progra~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsescn.exe
C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
C:\Program Files\Logitech\MouseWare\system\em_exec.exe
c:\progra~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsftsn.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Wintab32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTsvcCDA.EXE
C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Application Accelerator\iaantmon.exe
c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsrte.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcshield.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\WINDOWS\PCHEALTH\HELPCTR\BINARIES\HelpCtr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\HelpSvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\HelpHost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\mmc.exe
C:\Program Files\hijackthis\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://www.dell.com
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://sympatico.msn.ca/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://www.dell.com
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.dell.com
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {549B5CA7-4A86-11D7-A4DF-000874180BB3} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: DriveLetterAccess - {5CA3D70E-1895-11CF-8E15-001234567890} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswshx.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Helper - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar1.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {FDD3B846-8D59-4ffb-8758-209B6AD74ACC} - (no file)
O3 - Toolbar: McAfee VirusScan - {BA52B914-B692-46c4-B683-905236F6F655} - c:\progra~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsshl.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Google - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar1.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IAAnotif] C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Application Accelerator\iaanotif.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IntelMeM] C:\Program Files\Intel\Modem Event Monitor\IntelMEM.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTSysVol] C:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy2ZS\Surround Mixer\CTSysVol.exe /r
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTDVDDET] "C:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy2ZS\DVDAudio\CTDVDDET.EXE "
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTHelper] CTHELPER.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [UpdReg] C:\WINDOWS\UpdReg.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DVDLauncher] "C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\DVDLauncher.exe "
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DMXLauncher] C:\Program Files\Dell\Media Experience\DMXLauncher.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [UpdateManager] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sonic\Update Manager\sgtray.exe" /r
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCAgentExe] c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mcagent.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCUpdateExe] C:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mcupdate.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Logitech Utility] Logi_MwX.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [dla] C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswctrl.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [VSOCheckTask] "c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcmnhdlr.exe" /checktask
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [VirusScan Online] "c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsshld.exe "
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MSMSGS] "C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe" /background
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\OSA.EXE
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Google Search - res://C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmsearch.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Backward Links - res://C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmbacklinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Cached Snapshot of Page - res://C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmcache.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Similar Pages - res://C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmsimilar.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Translate into English - res://C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbar1.dll/cmtrans.html
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_02\bin\npjpi150_02.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_02\bin\npjpi150_02.dll
O9 - Extra button: Real.com - {CD67F990-D8E9-11d2-98FE-00C0F0318AFE} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Shdocvw.dll
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {04E214E5-63AF-4236-83C6-A7ADCBF9BD02} (HouseCall Control) - http://housecall-beta.trendmicro.com/housecall/xscan60.cab
O16 - DPF: {05D44720-58E3-49E6-BDF6-D00330E511D3} (StagingUI Object) - http://zone.msn.com/binFrameWork/v10/StagingUI.cab34120.cab
O16 - DPF: {0E5F0222-96B9-11D3-8997-00104BD12D94} (PCPitstop Utility) - http://pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/PCPitStop.CAB
O16 - DPF: {17492023-C23A-453E-A040-C7C580BBF700} (Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool) - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=36467&clcid=0x409
O16 - DPF: {3BB54395-5982-4788-8AF4-B5388FFDD0D8} (ZoneBuddy Class) - http://zone.msn.com/BinFrameWork/v10/ZBuddy.cab32846.cab
O16 - DPF: {51045741-8C4E-4EAC-8F03-08E43A6FBB29} - http://c.ancestry.com/cab/aft/AncestryFamilyTree.cab
O16 - DPF: {5736C456-EA94-4AAC-BB08-917ABDD035B3} (ZonePAChat Object) - http://zone.msn.com/binframework/v10/ZPAChat.cab32846.cab
O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) - http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.c...ls/en/x86/client/wuweb_site.cab?1109450433390
O16 - DPF: {74D05D43-3236-11D4-BDCD-00C04F9A3B61} (HouseCall Control) - http://a840.g.akamai.net/7/840/537/2004061001/housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/xscan53.cab
O16 - DPF: {8C279F4E-917E-4CD2-8DF0-D9C73C0CE763} (ZPA_WheelOfFortune Object) - http://zone.msn.com/bingame/zpagames/zpa_wof.cab34501.cab
O16 - DPF: {B8BE5E93-A60C-4D26-A2DC-220313175592} (ZoneIntro Class) - http://zone.msn.com/binFramework/v10/ZIntro.cab34246.cab
O16 - DPF: {DA2AA6CF-5C7A-4B71-BC3B-C771BB369937} (StadiumProxy Class) - http://zone.msn.com/binframework/v10/StProxy.cab34842.cab
O16 - DPF: {DAF5D9A2-D982-4671-83E4-0398706A5F6A} (SCEWebLauncherCtl Object) - http://zone.msn.com/bingame/hsol/default/SCEWebLauncher.cab
O16 - DPF: {DF780F87-FF2B-4DF8-92D0-73DB16A1543A} (PopCapLoader Object) - http://zone.msn.com/bingame/dim2/default/popcaploader_v6.cab
O16 - DPF: {EF791A6B-FC12-4C68-99EF-FB9E207A39E6} (McFreeScan Class) - http://download.mcafee.com/molbin/iss-loc/vso/en-us/tools/mcfscan/2,0,0,4443/mcfscan.cab
O23 - Service: Creative Service for CDROM Access - Creative Technology Ltd - C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTsvcCDA.EXE
O23 - Service: IAA Event Monitor (IAANTMon) - Intel Corporation - C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Application Accelerator\iaantmon.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee.com McShield (McShield) - Unknown owner - c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcshield.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee SecurityCenter Update Manager (mcupdmgr.exe) - McAfee, Inc - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\Agent\mcupdmgr.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee.com VirusScan Online Realtime Engine (MCVSRte) - Networks Associates Technology, Inc - c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsrte.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
O23 - Service: Wintab32 - Unknown owner - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Wintab32.exe

Thanks in advance

 

Nothing exciting in the HJT log (which is always a good sign).

Two general clean-up/fix-up things to try. Could well help, won't hurt, and if no change, we can look elsewhere.

Click on start, on run, key in cmd and OK. When the cmd window opens, key in

Code:

chkdsk /r

and answer yes to questions about doing the deed at next boot then reboot.

When the PC has finished the chkdsk and booted, Click on start, on run, key in

Code:

sfc /scannow

and OK. You may be asked for your XP CD at some point.

 

Thanks for the suggestions
I'll try them in the morning- It's about 11:20 p.m. here right now so I'll start fresh in the morning.


I did run sfc and that came out clean. I had some malware detected that I've since deleted.
I really think the problem lies in IE6. I did get an error again in IE yesterday that I posted in the internet explorer forum concerning urlmon.dll and I followed the instructions to register the dll. I haven't seen the error since.

Note: I have also been waiting for about 20 seconds at boot up before opening up IE. Basically, I'm just trying to let everything load to avoid conflicts.
My virusscan software (Mcafee) has been posting a warning in my event viewer regarding sonic dla
exact error:
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: McLogEvent
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5028
Date: 05/04/2005
Time: 9:58:06 PM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: HEXADECIMAL
Description:
VirusScan McShield service received an invalid filename from the NaiFiltr device driver.
Received name = \GLOBAL??\TFSWIFS
Process = IEXPLORE.EXE
This started when I installed an update from Dell that added dla to my sonic recordnow and MyDvd.
I think that this might be the cause of my ie crashes and maybe even my blue screen crash.
driveletteraccess - sonic solutions - is listed as one of my loaded add-ons in internet explorer.
If the ie error happens again I will disable the add-on to see if it stops the problem.
Is there a reason why this is an add-on in IE6? Can't seem to find much info on it when I do a search
Sorry, I don't know much about DLA other than it allows drag and drop but I don't know why it is also loaded in IE

Anyway, thanks and I'll definitely do as you suggest in the morning.

Today has been a good day - No IE6 crashes and no blue screens

 

ran chkdsk this morning. Everything checked out o.k.
So far today has been good too.

Keeping my fingers crossed that maybe the problem is gone

thanks Newt for taking a look. Atleast now I know how to run chkdsk if I have to

 

Maybe I spoke too soon again,
I just took a look at my event viewer and under today's date this was in the applications section:

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Winlogon
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1001
Date: 07/04/2005
Time: 5:33:02 PM
User: N/A
Computer: HEXADECIMAL
Description:
Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 157 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 157 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 157 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
Read failure with status 0xc0000185 at offset 0x12d473000 for 0x10000 bytes.
Read failure with status 0xc0000185 at offset 0x12d482000 for 0x1000 bytes.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 14713
of name \DOCUME~1\DEFAUL~1\MYDOCU~1\My Music\THENIT~1.MP3.
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.
Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

239770124 KB total disk space.
11367428 KB in 52020 files.
15816 KB in 3988 indexes.
4 KB in bad sectors.
132544 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
228254332 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
59942531 total allocation units on disk.
57063583 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
30 e7 00 00 d3 da 00 00 20 29 01 00 00 00 00 00 0....... )......
66 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 a4 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 f...............
48 81 0f 04 00 00 00 00 2c e4 09 1d 00 00 00 00 H.......,.......
2c 60 32 05 00 00 00 00 00 0e 54 38 01 00 00 00 ,`2.......T8....
6c bf b2 9e 0a 00 00 00 1c 1e e3 fe 0b 00 00 00 l...............
60 d6 0b d6 00 00 00 00 88 38 07 00 34 cb 00 00 `........8..4...
00 00 00 00 00 10 d0 b5 02 00 00 00 94 0f 00 00 ................

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.


For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

I ran chkdsk yesterday??????

Anyway, should I be concerned? What is a bad cluster? What is a bad sector?
Please advise,

Thanks in advance

Note: I haven't had any other errors but I'm wondering why this just appeared tonight when I logged on.

 

If you are doing this at the point the Desktop appears on the Screen then the 20 sec may not be long enough.

Once you boot the machine it takes at least a couple of minutes before it is completely settled down.

But it does depend quite a bit on WHAT is loading at bootup.

On this XP Pro machine that I am on right now if I do not wait at the least 2 minutes after the desktop appears I am ( or can be ) in BIG TROUBLE The cursor does not show as busy but the HARDDRIVE light sure say different.

I can't tell you how on a Dell machine but I would suggest that you try shutting down somethings that are loading at startup.

BillyBob

PS
Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.

I do not like that message.

BB

 

Wait for a more professional opinion but I think you have a good reason to worry.

And couple that with what is in italics in my previous reply.

How about it folks ?

BillyBob

 

Thanks for taking a look Billybob

I am pretty upset about this whole situation. I just purchased this computer a month ago from Dell. It supposed to be the cream of the crop
Dimension XPS Gen4

Just my luck that I may have a faulty harddrive. I spoke with dell technical support and they didn't really help much. He advised me to purchase an extended warranty. So, essentially, spend more money on top of what I've already spent . The harddrive is under warranty for a year and if need be, they will send someone out to replace it. What they didn't tell me when I purchased the computer, is that the replacement harddrive will be blank and I will have to format it and load everything myself. I know this is no big deal for a lot of you but I'm pretty ticked that I may have to do this since the computer is so new. He then mentioned that this is why he builds his own computers. Doesn't give me a lot of confidence in dell

My computer seems to running o.k. right now so I'll just have to wait and see. I'll probably run chkdsk every month to monitor the situation and see if it gets any worse.

Thanks again and if anyone has any more suggestions let me know

 

For now, run chkdsk /r at least once a week.

If all remains well then you may have just had a marginal spot on the drive that went bad but the rest is good.

If you get any further bad clusters, back up the stuff you are fond of and replace the drive sooner rather than later because it will be going bad and there is no way to predict how fast.

They should at least replace the drive with one that has the OS loaded and ready to go.

 

Wrong
post

 

Newt,
According to the guy I spoke with last night that's not the way they do it. Sounds like they're very segregated in the jobs they do. One guy will take out the harddrive and put in a new one (hardware) while, if need be, another technical assistant will help me reinstall over the phone.

I disabled a couple more of my startup items that may be causing problems.

Now I'm trying to get a real handle on my registry. I downloaded a few registry cleaners today to see what they would find
Regseeker and RegScrubXP

Regseeker identifies over 700 entries in the registry that need fixing and RegScrubXP identifies 156.

*Over 350 entries containing "aol "?????

I haven't removed anything yet but I know there's a lot of garbage in there. When I first got the computer, Norton and AOL 9 were installed. Norton gave me a lot of trouble uninstalling (kept on popping up when I tried to remove it through add/remove programs) and there seem to be quite a few AOL 9 entries still in the registry.

Before I remove anything I'm trying to find out what each type of key is for and if needed or not. No I'm not crazy and would never just start deleting keys that I didn't know anything about.

The problems identified in RegscrubXP are: No values or subkeys for this key ( I especially like the key named Mr. Enigma which I have read exists even in a clean install of XP) CLass ID references file does not exist, Com App references class id that does not exist, typelib file does not exist, no values for this key, file does not exist, help file does not exist, no data for this value, font does not exist, and no values for this key.

If anyone can point me in the right direction where to get some help on identifying these keys I'd be grateful. I really want to understand the registry so that eventually I'll be able to identify problems myself.

Is there a good book outlining XP's registry or a good website. I am very wary just searching around the net blindly since there are so many opinions out there as to what is and what is not safe to delete. I've been coming to this forum for several years now and have always been happy with the advice I have received.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

O.K. It's 1:15 a.m. and I've spent the whole night looking at the entries that regseeker found. I really want to get rid of any signs of aol, norton and any other programs that are no longer in use.
Many of the green entries for these programs say invalid file or path. After searching for many of the files myself - am I to conclude that these files really don't exist? Basically what I'm asking is: Is it safe to delete the registry keys that are pointing to non-existent files? (green)
Also, should I trust regseeker when it tells me that these files and/or paths do not exist?
Finally, what is the difference between the red and green entries?
Much Thanks

No rush since I'm off to bed. I can only take so much of this in one day

 

Thanks to all who helped me- it wasn't an xp issue!

Hello again,
Just wanted to let you know that you were right Newt. My harddrive was the problem.
For anyone who has a new Dell, this might be of some interest. At bootup when the Dell screen appears if you press F12 you are taken to a menu that offers a hard drive diagnostics utility. It took about a minute and a half to return a fail code indicating that the harddrive is bad.

Basically, my problems weren't operating system related at all - I guess in one sense I should be relieved.

I probably would have lived with it for a while but my computer froze tonight after about 10 minutes and I got another disk error.
I did run chkdsk again tonight with no errors but I guess the Dell diagnostics found the problem.
Thanks for everyone's help on my IE and XP issues
Hopefully I'll be running smoothly on my new harddrive by the end of week.

 

Sorry about that PeteC

Well, I'm now up and running on my new Harddrive. This coupled with a clean install of windows will hopefully solve my problems

Thanks again