URL Bar / CTRL+Enter

Never had this problem before, it's pretty interesting

Anyways, I recently had a new hard-drive installed and everything was wiped. Since I've started surfing the internet again, I've had some problems.

First problem is using control+enter. Like, I used to be able to type something like this:

google

And then I could press CTRL+enter and it would automatically put in the www. and the .com or something like that. Now it doesn't work anymore and I can't do that

Another problem is that the URL Bar is somewhat messed up. Let's say I go to windowsbbs.com and view some topics. Well, if I start to type www.windowsbbs.com, nothing comes up referencing that I've visited it before.

I don't know if it's this problem: Windows today, when this started, said that my copy wasn't Genuine or something....I don't know what it is, it's just messed up.

Since that happened, it's been messed up. I don't know if this hard-drive installation was messed up, but there are more minor problems, mainly being slow. I was just wondering if there was a solution for this

 

Super Mallow--Concerning the Control+Enter issue, try the following:
In Internet Explorer, go to Tools|FolderOptions|Advanced tab. Make sure "Use Inline Autocomplete" is selected. If not, check the box|Apply|OK. (Some people also say "under Content tab, click Autocomplete. Make sure "Web Addresses" is not checked. Click OK. ")
But try just the first step above to see if that solves things.

Not sure what you are expecting to "come up" since you already seem to be at the windowsbbs.com site. (And the Auto Complete|Web Addresses thing above could defeat some of the fixes for this type of problem. That is why I suggested you not use it unless you have to.)
Please explain in more detail.

Is your copy genuine? If not, that will cause problems.
Windows recently has started a crack down on non-Genuine copies of MS software. The last time you visited Windows Update you probably got a copy of the Genuine Advantage Notifications Tool. That will nag you if you do not have a genuine copy of the WinOS and not permit access to Windows Update and other MS downloads.
Test your copy here
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/howtotell/ww/windows/default.mspx
If your copy is genuine, please try to post more detail of the exact error message you are getting. Is it offering to check whether your copy is genuine? Once you do that, you should not get the message anymore.
But if the message concerns Validation rather than whether the OS is Genuine, this would be an entirely different matter. (And actually could be caused by installing a new HD.)