I beg to differ with the characterization of some desktop Linux systems. If an individual actually uses, let's say, Linpus Linux (that is on the Acer Aspire One netbook), I can't imagine a simpler interface (or much of a quicker one). The notion that a number of Linux desktop OSs and their variants (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Linpus, PC/0S, gOS, and others) have a steep learning curve, well, that's ancient history. It's no longer true, IMHO.

Hello Melissa:

I've had similar experiences. You may want to run hardware diagnostics first (usually they can be accessed from the initial startup sequence/boot menu of the BIOS) before the OS is loaded. This is just to rule out hardware problems.

Secondly, you may want to reformat the drive with another utility, such as the free utilities GParted or System Rescue CD. (Run the Google searches, and you'll find the download sites).

Windows, even XP, is not good software. If you'll really had enough, as I did, two-and-a-half years ago, you might want to migrate to Linux. There's a bit of a learning curve, but not too much. And the interoperability and stability, as well as the speed of the OS and applications (and safety) is far, far superior. (This is why these OSs are showing up on all the new netbooks, such as the Acer Aspire One and the Dell Mini-Inspiron).

The best things are that the software is free, mostly compatible with Windows software (such as OpenOffice, Thunderbird or Firefox) and, compared to MS's junk, very, very stable.

See ubuntu.com for more, or alternatively, PC/OS. The Linux site distrowatch.com provides links and explanations, as well.

That's what I did, in 2006, and I haven't looked back.