I run a Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop with Win XP Pro SP2 (upgrade from Win XP Home) op system, 256 RAM, 1.0GHz CPU, a 30 GHz hard drive 70% used. 

 

Have had multitude of problems of late: (1) TheSearchMall Hijacker invaded.  Fixed now by running tons of cleaners, anti-spyware, and virus software.  (2) Computer lost internal CD burner and DVD external burner. Now fixed but required going into registry was required. Followed instructions from Microsoft on 711 error messages and it worked. (THIS PROBLEM STARTED WHEN I LOADED NERO OEM BURNER SOFTWARE SUITE THAT CAME WITH THE CYBERLINK EXT. BURNER.) I uninstalled Roxio Easy CD Creator before installing Nero.

 

New problem:  After fixing the above, boot-up was slow. Booted normally up to the Windows splash. Then screen went blank for about 12-15 seconds before the boot resumed.  After boot up all programs worked OK except none of the NERO Suite programs would work and I have not been able to burn anything on DVD or CD.  I installed a Dell BIOS upgrade. Uninstalled Nero and reinstalled, ran McAfee antivirus, ad-aware, Spybot, and all is now clean.

 

Now, boot up takes up to 40 minutes after the Windows Splash screen before boot-up continues. When trying to open and use Nero Express, it freezes. Using Task Manager to close it doesn't work and Task Manager also freezes. All programs eventually start to freeze. Have to shut down computer by holding the Inspiron on/off button for 6-8 seconds. I went to the Nero website and downloaded the most current upgrades to the suite but nothing changed.  If I  open Internet Explorer, any of the Microsoft Office programs, or other software, they all work fine.

 

When I try to system restore to an earlier date, I get the message- unable to restore to the selected date, and to choose another one. No matter which date, I cannot restore!

 

Please can anyone help?  I am trying to backup my computer files in case I get a hard drive crash so I don't loose all my data, pictures, etc, but now neither my CD or DVD burner works because of the software problems.