[4795209]

Hi. This is my first question at your forum, so please forgive me if I've somehow posted it incorrectly. But, I have problems I don't know how to resolve on my own and may develop into worse problems.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1501. It's running Vista 32-bit and Office 2007. I have a program called Anonymizer on it (www.anonymizer.com) and Norton Anti-Virus latest edition to come out.

Some time ago, I tried to update to IE 8 and it seemed to wreak havoc on my system. I tried to uninstall it. Made things worse. I took it to a computer repair store nearby and told them: My system often freezes when you turn the laptop on and I have to do Control + Alt+ Delete several times to get past the start-up screen. Sometimes it will start fine.

Other problems: Sometimes a gray box will pop up saying that the Semantec Framework has stopped working, or something like that (can't remember the exact words).

After taking the laptop to a local library once, the Anonymizer program stopped working completely. Their IT said it could have to do with IE8 not being supported but they couldn't say for sure.

Anyway, after I took it to their shop, they reinstalled IE8 but it can only run by clicking "Run as Administrator." The other problems....freezing at start-up, Sematec thing, are still there.

After a while, the CyberLink Power2Go program for burning CDs and DVDs stopped working. It says that no matter what I do, it cannot read any CDs or DVDs put into the tray. Meanwhile, another program I use to burn DVDs, works just fine. I tried burning CDs with Windows Media Player and it, too, does not work to burn CDs at all. When I put a CD into the tray, it doesn't seem to want to start even after I click "Rip."

Different people have told me to do different things to repair things. One guy told me to just uninstall Norton, download a freebie antivirus like AVG or Avast or SpyBot and run it, then reinstall Norton. I'm completely confused and don't know much about hardware/software installation and don't want to mess up my laptop even more than it already is.

Can anyone please help and give step-by-step instructions for us newbies?

Thank you very much.

[abbyk]

Sorry to say it, but it sounds too messed up to fix imo.

I would often suggest a Windows repair install for fairly serious Windows problems, but I think yours is beyond that.

Personally, I would backup all valuable data and do a full format and reinstall.

Make a clean start. And then use a drive imaging program such as Macrium Reflect to safeguard against future screwups.

It will be a fair bit of work, but probably less work than trying to fix a seriously damaged Windows - which may never quite be right again.

Good luck

[DeputyDogg]

I agree with abbyk - maybe worth a shot at doing a system restore first? but I wouldn't get my hopes too high.

[explodinghead75]

This may not fix your problem, but I agree with the person that told you to uninstall Norton and try a free virus anti virus program. Based on personal experience, and this is just my opinion as an intermediate user, I would rather have a smaller free anti virus program and make backups, of course.

It may be too late this time, but I still agree with that advice. And then if you aren't happy with the results of the smaller free anti virus version, put Norton back on.