Problem 3

Thanks Fred will follow that one also.

Tom

Tom,
Your 3 problems _could_ all be related. Following are some suggestions of
what may be causing it.
Problem 1 - could be a problem with the DMA interface on your mainboard (ie,
faulty mainboard), or in the drive (ie faulty drive), or could be a problem
related to the IDE driver for your mainboard (download driver updates from
your mbd manufacturer). Could also be caused by faulty RAM module or a
faulty CPU.
Problem 2 - Could be faulty RAM module or faulty CPU or faulty MBD. Could
also be a bad driver, or a bit of bad software (maybe spyware or a virus).
Problem 3 - Could be related to spyware or a virus. Could also be a hardware
fault.
Suggestions - go to www.ultimatebootcd.com and download the bootcd image.
boot off it and run the hard drive and ram diagnostics tools.
Download a program called "stinger" (sorry can't remember website) and scan
for common viruses.
Download Spybot Search & Destroy & Adaware and scan for spyware.
Backup your data, format and start fresh - as the first thing you do try to
apply windows updates.
Good Luck :)

In start/run  enter
sfc.exe /scannow

That will check the system files are not corrupt.
Seems like some file that is required to install updates is corrupt...