Ok,
well where to start..
1. The reason that these virus programs lock out vital system resources, is to keep you protected, as they are the most typical places viruses will attack. Mcafee has issues with this and does cause BSOD on occassion, Norton will do the same but ONLY if you are infected with something, or need certain Nic drivers to run certain functions, this is something that is common in older windows OS's such as windows ME, 98se, 98, 95 or NT4
2. Downloading, well on this i am sorry but you are mistaken, your machine the moment you connect to any WAN allowed network using TCP/IP will pull info from the internet, if local LAN, your machine will pull info from WINs, DNS, DHCP, and other servers, on WAN open networks you will pull info whether it is DNS info, or Listening Ports. You can check this by using Netstat -a in the command prompt, by default your machine will listen to a slew of ports, you can lock this down with group policy, but most people do not know that this function even exists. Also windows 95-7 have a feature built in to look for updates.. If you want to know about your security issues you will want to run a command prompt gpresult /Z this will display your full group policy settings and security.
3. Msconfig, although a good begining point to look for possible issues, and also idiot proof, as unless you delete your boot.ini file, or stop all services from boot, you cannot kill your machine by using this, but this does not list hidden services, found in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc you can look at a flat file called services this file holds your hidden system services, if you have a infected service running it will run from this file, and launch an EXE or DLL file from the associated path. Now if you use Msconfig, you can stop legit programs from launching, however the typical trojans are smart, and will hide in run once, which you will need to go into your registry to find, these run once files change their names on reboot, which is what makes them such a pain in the a$$, now if you had Norton, Mcafee, Trend, Sophose, or NOD32 this directory would be one that would be locked out, your simple little scan utilies have no lock on these locations which is why they are not the best for the typical end user.
4. Simple maintenance, yes, it helps keep your machine running good, but what do you see as maintenance? Moving files around causes fragmentation, and will decrease MFT file allocation space, which may have adverse effects, also Indexing will slow down your machine due to moving files around. Windows Defrag is a good program, however it should be noted that if you have a solid state drive defraging will destroy the disk, also, you should always baseline your defrag prior to running a defrag (defrag c: -b)then run (defrag c: -f) this will force space to defrag.
The best programs for XP
1. Ccleaner - removes temp files, and will clean out old registry keys
2. O&O free2000 Version will run on XP and will defrag down to the block and not the file, it is much better, and yeilds much better performance.
3. if you can find it disk keeper 2007 has the ability to increase the MFT file on your machine, this will help alot,
4. If you dont search your machine for stuff often, turn off indexing service and help service. also if you are not on a domain, turn off remote regristy in services as well it will help keep agains possible remote attacks if you become infected with a worm.

Well if you have any questions feel free to ask i will do my best...
I should be on here more often, as i was just laid off, although now i am in the mids of creating my own company, so i will be on and off here more often..

Well your last possible solution is to call dell and order a driver and download CD. they will send it to you, should run about 5 to 10 bucks..

Depends on what you are buying it for.
I own both... and Wii
PS3 is a little slower, loading, and what not.. The games are not as good as the Xbox, even the equal titles are a little better on Xbox, the graphics card is better on the PS3, but the PS3 lacks the game technology to utilize the better card, Xbox also has a better Online playing setup (In my opinion). The hardware since Xbox fixed their issues has gotten better, the PS3 has a much better processor, and has a much better hardware setup as you can play blue ray. honestly it comes down to what you like better, i prefer the xbox controller, i also prefer the xbox online.. "live" and game titles, but really it depends on what you like more..

The Wii is really more fun then both of them, but again, just my opinion..

I would suggest running a check disk

start the machine, either normally, or into safe mode..

Click on start
Click on Run
Type in CMD
press OK

In the Black Dos box, where the cursor is flashing,
Type in Chkdsk c: /f

you will get something that looks like the info,

HERE-
C:\WINDOWS>chkdsk c: /f
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Cannot lock current drive.

Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another
process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be
checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)

Type in Y and reboot.. a check disk will tell you if the issue is due to hardware, or maybe a bad sector...
Also if this is a dell, on system boot during post, where the dell splash screen is, you can hit the F12 key during boot, this will bring you into a diagnostic test which will take sometime to run, but will tell you what the issue is, if it is hardware...

Please post the results of both chkdsk and the diagnostic..

NOTE: memory issues may be the result of a variety of things,
Specific Error codes are very helpful,
along with the type of machine, manufacturer, and operating system you are running.

Thank you,

MCSE

actually you can defrag a machine with less then 1% of free system space, but in order to do this you would need to use the command prompt by using Defrag c: -b -f
then by using Defrag c: -f

or you can use a defrag program like the Pagefrag from sysinternals.

OK, Email me the Service tag number, and i will put direct download links on here, so all you have to do is click,
save as to the external drive
and double click on the new machine...

Or contact an IT guy around you and see what they charge to install drivers...

Shouldn't run you more then 100 bucks...

I agree, look at the old days of printers, hell even now, the HP 4SI print drivers pretty much work on everything...

OK Link 1.
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/windows-compared-windows-7-vs-vista-vs-xp-615167?artc_pg=8
Is for testing with Beta, which was amazing, thought it was the Best OS that Microsoft had ever released, all drivers worked on all machines, all machines were light years ahead in speed. But the Release is a slow POS... they are two different animals.
The release has more crap in it, which slows it down, they added security, which is great, but it should not be at the expense of speed.

Link 2.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1b544e90-7659-4bd9-9e51-2497c146af15&displayLang=en
This will tell you if the OS will run,
It will NOT tell you if it is going to run well,
you should also know that as of now, their is NO direct upgrade, so you would have to reinstall all of your programs. At home no big deal but when you administer 500+ windows XP desktops... well yeah no thanks...

I will leave it as this,
I would/will not adopt it as my home OS until the cost of a very fast machine becomes cheap. I will also wait until service pack 2 comes out. I may not ever adopt it in the work place, and skip it completely, while i wait for the next OS. Or i will just switch to Linux and use Wine for my applications.

http://www.tuxradar.com/content/vista-windows-7-ubuntu-904-and-910-boot-speed-comparison

Best i can do for ya is,
if you post the virus names, as well as what they are on,
like bmw.zip, then ill be able to tell you if you are actually infected or if they are false positives.

Hate to break it to ya, but it has nothing to do with dell, or Windows, or anything, just something that happens with electronics..
what you are going to need to do, is buy a thumb drive, flash drive, or external hard drive, go to a friends house, or the library, and download all the drivers on the drive, bring it home and install them. Dell should have provided you with the install disks from when you bought the machine..

Drive needs to be at least 512mb in size...

Sweet, i am pretty sure that isn't so far out in the future either.. Hell might even be thinner...

Check these out, i know they are fake but it still cracks me up..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49AcmRz2XAI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgXXCSlt7uI&feature=PlayList&p=BF3DBB1781D4B965&index=1

Depends on a bunch of factors,
Windows XP you will need to download the software to connect your machine to you Xbox... Also you will need to get a cat5 cable, cat6 is a waste of money, as the xbox wont support its speed anyway.. shielded cable is a better idea, as if you have your XBOX in a cabinet other wires can interfere if the cable is not shielded, meaning it will get slow.. Wireless is no where near fast enough to play games online that are fast paced, such as Call of Duty, you will lag out, or get booted, due to connection issues... I bought the wireless, ran 48kbs, cat5 will run 1gbps (if your router supports it)
Cat5 figure it will run you 20 bucks for 5 ft.. or less if it is a no name brand, brand name means nothing, its all close to the same..

IMPORTANT:
just from a security stand point,
If you have Illegal MP3's or Videos
Microsoft will Brick your XBOX if you copy them to it...
They will ban you from xbox live, and report you..
this is something to keep in mind...



yes you can get cat5 at walmart...
If you don't have a router you will need a cross over cable, also could be purchased their...

If you dont have a router, connection is a little different to configure, let me know and i can help you with that as well...

I would go to Www.Ubuntu.com and download that.. Or purchase a CD/DVD to be sent to you. It is not as easy to use as windows is, but if you just use the machine to be on the internet it is far better, as it does not have the virus issues that microsoft has, works with High speed internet, and is free... minus the cost if you have to have it sent to you.

Windows 98 will not run cable, dsl out of the box, if you contact your ISP (internet Service provider) they may have software you can use on your 98 machine to allow it to work.

You can pick up a refurb machine from www.microcenter.com for 99 bucks with windows xp installed...

Just a few options that might help..

Sounds like a virus...
when you could last see your taskbar, do you know if your machine was up to date on virus definitions?

Windows system restore sucks, so i wouldn't worry to much about trying that. What most people do not realize is that system restore is stored in your registry and not locked, it has the same rights as the signed on user, so if you use your machine and are a system administrator, which most people are, you will infect the store that holds system restore the moment your machine becomes infected. This means that if you try to do a recovery, you just go back to a previous date, but still retain the same virus but in a dormant state. To anyone on here, i would just shut off system restore, it takes more system resources to run, and is not that great, unless you use Vista, or windows 7, as they fixed this in those Os's.

their was a virus that went around, that causes you to loose your system restore, your taskbar, and your ability to run certain applications, it will remove your AV from running..

Now depending on what you want to do, depends on if you want help..
1. you can do a reformat, bring it back to factory default, this would most likely be the least frustrating for you, but honestly you may infect your new format if you copy over files, the virus that i think you have stems from MP3, M4A, or M4V file formats, it can also come from infected Flash. If you have the Media format version, once you copy files to the external drive you will infect your new machine once you plug it in, wasting your time..
2. Fixing your current machine.
Boot, CNTRL+ALT+DEL, open task manager...
in task manager, choose file, run
In run type in Http://www.malwarebytes.org
download Malwarebytes
Save as, save to a location that is easy, say C:
Once it is completed,
From task manager click on File, Run
Type in C:
Press OK
Doubleclick on Mbam.exe
Install Malwarebytes (if you cant, make sure you take notice to what the error is, as this will help troubleshoot)
Once it is installed, you can try to update it, but if it fails, its OK, it should still work with its older Definitions..
If it installs and you cannot find it to run it..
From task manager
Choose File
Choose Run
Type in CMD
Click OK
In a Black Dos box that pops up..
type in this exactly..
"C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware"\mbam.exe/quickscan
(Include Quotes, press enter when completely typed in, it will run the scan)
Hope this helps...
If the Scan comes back clean let me know, i will walk you though other options..

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer

Sql is a database software that runs on Microsoft Servers...
Oracle, is a Unix database, and OpenSQL is an open source database that runs on Linux and Windows...

Check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL

Ok Device drivers for a dell are easy.
Only a few variables
1. Do you use Wireless or wired?
If you are wireless, you can use a cat5 cable you can pick up anywhere to connect to your router, DSL and you should be able to get online to download the drivers. ( you will need to reboot the router before you connect to it, and after you reboot your machine to connect to it wirelessly again)
2. Does the machine have an internal wireless card? or is it a card you purchased elsewhere?
If you are using Dell standard equipment,
Go to www.dell.com
Click on the support link
Look for link that says drivers and downloads and click on it
type in your service tag number, (not express service code)
it is a number located on your dell machine on a small sliver of white bar code sticker on the bottom.
Based on this number your machine specs will popup in the driver download screen, choose your driver, wireless, or wired, and click on the download driver,
when prompted, click on save AS and save it somewhere you can find it.
Double click on it and click Yes to extract, follow the prompts, install and reboot.
(wireless only)
Once rebooted, you should be able to use the built in Microsoft
Windows Wireless to scan for your network..
If you have security, you will need to enter in your WEP key.
If not you may have to click Yes to connect anyway when prompted to connect to an open non secured network


Also, it sounds to me, that you ran windows updates, and updated drivers, which probably broke your drivers.. i would after you do this, go into your updates, and exclude driver updates.

Driver issues;
1. Realteck HD audio will not work correctly
2. Intel X1300 video drivers will not work correctly
3. HP Printer 4si 2k,XP,vista drivers will not work
4. Cisco VPN software
5. A variety of Network protocol tools needed for work
6. A variety of Microsoft Sysinternal tools needed for work, which Microsoft for windows 7 requires you to pay for, that on XP were free.

Machine's
1. Core2Duo 2.0GHZ, Memory 3gb DDR2, SATA 7200RPM 160gb Hard drive (Laptop)
2. P3 600Mhz, Memory 256mb PC133, Scsi 60gb Hard drive (server)
3. Dual AMD Phenom 2 Quad core 3.0GHZ, 16GB DDR3 dual channel, 6 1TB SAS Drives at 7200RPM each Hard drive (Raid 5) (Server/desktop)
4. A slew of other P4 based test machines. (Desktops)

Windows 7;
Installed on all machines, each machine had different issues, Worked good in the VM image, but once i installed it on a physical machine it turned into crap.
machine 1. Device driver issues
machine 2. Scsi driver issues, could not install
Machine 3. Ran great, but that machine was 5grand...
machine 4. Various device driver issues, and slow boot times, all machines have 1gb of memory minimum.

Your friend;
It sounds like your friend is basing this on a machine that had XP installed for a long time, and then went to a fresh install of 7. If he wipes two identical machines, then installs one with Xp, and the Other with 7. he will see that the XP machine is faster. Hell if he installs Ubuntu on a third he will see Linux embarrass Microsoft all together. (Agree Linux is not a good Desktop OS for most, but it is wonderful, i have been using it since windows 7 came out, and it is much faster)

Go here and use this www.openoffice.org
its free works with all formats, mac, linux, windows, and opens all formats, office, mac office, etc...