Software - PC won't run all my software - it used to!

[gln121]

I have a 2 year old Dell with XP, I have been really pleased with it but lately it is refusing to run some of my software that it used to run.  It also refuses to run new software I have bought.  The software is not the problem, all will run on other computers.  Dell ran through various things with me on the computer for an hour and as a result informed me I may need to re-install Windows which is a nightmare to me, especially as I can't save things to CD because it doesn't appear to want to do that either!  Any suggestions or advice gratefully received, even if it is to confirm Dells' diagnosis! Many thanks in advance.

[vehelpfulguy]

Can you do the following:

Go into Control Panel, then Administrative Tools, then Event Viewer. This is where Windows writes all its error messages.

Have a look in the three logs, Application, Event and System and see if there are any nasty messages in there. They are indicated by a red or yellow icon.

The System log is for Windows errors, the Application log is for errors with your own programs.

If you can put details of some of the error messages here we may be able to help.

[boobesque]

i had the same problem a few months back. my programs were dropping like flies until one day it stopped. this was the day that my computer died. i have reason to believe that this was the blaster virus. reinstalling windows is indeed an option. you can do an over the top installation of windows which reinstalls the operating system but leaves all files untouched. if the virus (if it is a virus) is in a file that you recieved then the problem will just begin again.

[gln121]

Many thanks (I think!!! boobesque) for your responses so far.

Gathered some info for you "vehelpfulguy", here goes:

In System:  (all dates 2005)

X error 30/8/05 cdrom (about 100 of these!) and warnings ditto.

X error 3/9 DCOM

x error 12/9 service control manager

! warning 14/9 w32 time

In Application:

! warning 4/2 userenv - almost daily

x error 21/2 Application hang

x error 28/2 Application error (category 100)

! warning 27/3 msiInstaller (x 8)

! warning 29/4 msiInstaller (x 6)

x error 29/4 Application hang (x 4)

x error 31/5 microsoft works (x 2)

x error 12/6 Application hang (x 6) Category 101

x error 19/6 application error category none.

If you need any more info please let me know, in the meantime thank you so much for your time.

[vehelpfulguy]

From your list of errors none of them seem very recent. That is good, if it was a major hardware or software error there would be errors written in there.

You may have a corrupt registry. Windows keeps all its important data in a hidden file called the registry. If this becomes corrupt then all sorts of things can happen. 

There is something in XP caled System Restore (on the system tools menu under Accessories). This will take XP back to a previous level.

To be honest I have never used it, but you could try that to see if you can restore to a previosu good version of XP.

It may wipe out some recent changes you have made, but it will be better than a complete reinstal of Windows.  

[gln121]

I tried system restore with Dell and again since but it would not let me restore very far back.  Many thanks for your help though.