The first radio button is checked on my system "let windows choose what's best for my system" then all the options in the box below are checked.

 

Are you able to check this radio button?

 

Col

Checking the first one doesn't do anything.  There is nothing displayed in the box, so I don't know if it tried to check them.  Also, the "Apply" button is still grayed out.

What version of windows do you have and how old is your computer?

 

Col

It's a new Inspiron 1520 laptop... had it since Monday (3 days ago).  The only thing I've done so far is install AVG, ZonaAlarm, and a few sidebar gadgets.

 

The OS is Vista Home Premium.

 

I activated the the Administrator account to see if I could do things from there.  But Its even worse... I can't even open the window for visual effects, or most of the others.  And, for some things, it says I don't have the necessary permissions (this is the administrator account).  If I try to manage the account, it says that a "file association" is missing.

 

I'm convinced that the OS is not installed properly.  Since there's nothing on the disk yet that I care about, I'm considering using the recovery partition to restore the original factory installation.

I have had a couple problems and both were sorted out promptly over the phone.

 

Good luck

Col

I'm going to try calling support after work tonight.  I couldn't get through last night... and the online chat never seems to work.

WOW just out of the box.

 

I read the invoice I got with my PC at the end of August last year and it says:

 

There are several different phone numbers... do you remember which one you called for OS support?

Another option you may be available is to restore your system to the Default that came with you system.  Not sure if you laptop has the restore partition on it.   But my XPS 410 did that I purchased about 10 months ago did.  

 

Anyway to restore the system press F8 on boot up.   Keep pressing it to make sure it kicks in.   You should have an option to restore system to the way it was shipped.    You will loose any data that you tranfered to you C drive and of couse have to re-install the programs that you already installed.  

 

Your Vista comes with it's own firewall software that works ok for me.    I am using Norton Antivirus, which also has a firewall software, which i disabled to have the Vista one work. 

 

 

I'm going to call tech support tonight. 

 

At this point I'm not even considering it a software issue.  I've had it since Monday and it's never worked.  In fact, the more I look at, the more Contol Panel stuff I find that doesn't open properly.  I've also had one blue-screen, during a virus scan. To me, initial installation is a technical issue, not software support.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the disk information was never installed correctly, and it needs to be redone.  I'd like to send it back and have them reimage the entire disk.