Well bossjim, the "yes dear" is kinda like agreeing to use MS software precisely as MS suggests you use it.........so being basically an anti-MS person, I have managed to develop alternative methods to using their mind-numbing software, by using a MAC! So....Wife 1.0, now has alternative methods of operation, which, while limited, provide for some degree of flexibility, and use of grey matter. These days though, the functionality of grey matter, has declined, therefore I have misgivings about winning the battle, in the long run. (smile)

Wow. So glad I posted. I didn't even realize the rootkit thing was a big issue (and I'm not sure that's what I saw). Avast was scanning - and it didn't even come up with the usual alarming "found something" screen. It just seemed to pause and said this had to be stopped/removed first. It never even showed up as an infected file. So it seems I have to deal with this rootkit issue first - before the possible device driver issue - or system restore. Is it possible that this rootkit issue is the only one going on? Thank you for the caution about not using my password. I didn't do any online purchases. The only password I would have entered was for my gmail account. Luckily I don't use that password for my commerce, banking, etc accounts. So I want to be sure the order of things: update and run malwarebytes first? then do the LzD removal? I'm not sure if that's an online scan program - or is there actually a company I will be asking assistance from? Don't know if this is related. Earlier today when I was using the computer (my main PC) do look at emails, it logged me out and said my gmail was locked and would be inactive due to too much activity (from pop accounts) - or browser compatibility issues (I have Firefox and have had some gmail/Firefox issues from time to time). As it happens, I can still access my gmail account from my laptop. I didn't try again from my PC - and itseems that I shouldn't for now. Now I had also used my gmail from my laptop, my daughter's pc and my smartphone - all just today. I assumed that's why I got logged off. But could this be a result of my gmail account getting hijacked (or whatever it would be?). Thanks everyone for your timely responses. I didn't realize it was quite this serious when I first posted - just that my PC said it was serious. Lynn. PS - used2bsane - I am not that knowledgeable so your instructions above were great and much needed. It seems that I have to address the rootkit issue first, however. I'll be posting back with my progress.

Raven THANK you so much for your reply above. I had already removed the fooz kids, McAfee, Acer games, Norton online, after that graphic was saved to post when I couldn't upload it. I shall remove some of what you have mentioned. I did install Chrome so that is probably why that is shown there. Mikie, I shall read your link after this send. I was wondering if more memory could be added to that little gem to give it a boost? Thanks. YAY PB is working so I can post this graphic. I didn't do that yet as I was wondering if it was going to call for a disc to put it on.

As it happens, things have changed. The technician Dell sent came with the replacement hard drive (with pre-installed XP and drivers). He installed it - booted - and the same hard drive warning occurred. Turns out it was my second internal hard drive (that I use for data) that was going bad. It was a good thing I already had the 2TB replacement. So he put the 2TB drive in - returned my original hard drive - and all functioned well - no hard drive error messages. Now I do have work ahead of me - but this changes the nature of it. Much better scenario - but still requires thinking through. There are probably just a few video files on the second internal hard drive that I don't have copies of. I think they're still accessible - so I will either get a docking station - or better yet an enclosure (since I will need one anyway - as I'll describe later) to put it in - and see if I can transfer those video files to my new 2TB internal drive. I think it makes sense to test that drive to see what's wrong with it - if it's repairable by Windows XP (I think if I run chkdsk there are possibilities to repair some damage?). Should I do this? Or are there other methods to safely test out the health of my hard drive? It is also a Western Digital. The timing of the hard drive failure is now making more sense. I had spent the previous weekend backing up lots of data files onto this second internal 1.5 TB hard drive. I think some of those transferred Tivo files might be problematic. (I say that for 2 reasons - when I've tried to defrag the hard drive, I recall a few files that couldn't be defragged - and while it was hard to see the path, I think they were the Tivo videos. Also, there were a few Tivo videos that failed to work properly when I tried to run VideoRedo to remove commercials. Some just seemed to be bad files - of course, I don't recall which those ones were - but it makes me wonder if it's the sources of the problem on that second hard drive.) Next step is call Dell - I bought that second hard drive from them 1 1/2 yrs ago. It has a 3 yr warranty. I'm not sure if the warranty will be honored by Dell or Western Digital (the brand of drive). So I figure I'll be getting a replacement 1.5 TB hard drive - which I can either install internally - use it as program drive or data drive. I can use the original 500GB drive externally. Or maybe I should keep it the way it is now. Original 500GB internal hard drive, second 2 TB internal hard drive - and put the replacement 1.5 TB hard drive in an enclosure and use for back-ups. One reason I'd like to use the 2TB drive as a program/boot drive (or master drive - I'm not sure of the language) is bc. it's supposed to be a faster drive - Western Digital Black Caviar 2TB drive - 7200rpm and 64MB Cache that was a bit pricier, but I thought it was worth it for quality and speed. It's this one: http://www.amazon.co...ref=oss_product (although I paid less than the price listed online) I'm new enough at all this that I don't understand everything about hard drive speed. I think that a larger drive can potentially slow things down a bit as it has to work to see date over a larger area/amount of data - but that the 7200rpm and 64MB cache will offer more speed - and the reviews suggest this thing is fast. I'd love any guidance in weighing these factors as I decide which to make the primary drive. I also want to clarify what to do with this drive. I don't know how to partition. And if I did, how large a partition should I create on this 2TB drive - if it were to hold the operating systems and programs? I don't know how much room that takes - and how to be sure to take the appropriate sections of my original drive to place into this partition. I can figure out what size each portion of my original hard drive is? I just don't know which folders go into the partition for programs/software? I don't want to leave any out - and I'm concerned I will miss some folders bc. I do not recognize what they are. If I partition the drive, I gather I don't clone it - but do it in sections. I also don't know if I should format it first. Or partition first. Disk management is fairly new to me although I did format a couple of drives. I didn't get into partitions and copying from one drive to another. Does it make sense to use this 2TB drive (which I bought for it's speed and good functioning) as the main drive? If so, I don't know the order of operations? Clone my original drive to this drive? Format and partition first (in which case I'll need to know how to get the proper system files vs. data files into the right partitions). I think I know that if I make this 2TB the master, I have to either switch the cables - but since I think they won't stretch to the second hard drive bay, I'll probably have to swap them. I am so relieved not to have lost my original drive. Although it consumed the better part of last weekend, I did learn plenty - and feel more confident cutting my "recovery" teeth on recovering data from the bad second drive which only has some video at stake. Just as a reminder my original drive has about 350GB data. Thanks everyone. Lynn. PS - I did learn a couple of important things from this technician. First, he updated the bios in my computer (which was several versions old). And he told me where to go to update the bios on my daughter's computer. That was useful. It's a question I've had for a while when I see people on this forum ask whether someone has updated their bios.