See that is where a problem may or may not occur I'm not a 100% here especially if it originally came with its own recovery disk. That being said I do not know what other options you have (To set up Xp now, press enter 2) You could try this it will wipe the disk and should reinstall xp, and this will take a good bit of time and you will need service pack2 unless it is already included on the disk you have. Then install a free virus program, firewall, and your internet software. How old is the pc? Let see if others chime in here also.

whew lots of questions LOL lets see if I can answer some of them. As to the linux live cd you can get them free from a site online or order them from some sites that charged just a couple dollars for them to pay their cost. Linux itself is free. You can also download it and burn the iso file to a cd your self for free but that is not something a novice will want to do. Once you have a linux live cd you can put it in the cd drawer of our pc, then reboot the pc, the pc will then be running from the linux cd instead of from your windows operating system. So anything you do while online will not touch your windows at all so you can not get infections if you happen to go to an infected website. Linux is very secure there are not many infections for linux. The cd contains the firefox browser so you can open that and surf to where ever it is you want to go, game sites, etc. Then when you want to go back to using your windows you just reboot the pc and pull out the cd before it restarts so that it boots back to Windows. Another place to get linux cds is at bookstores that sell magazines most linux magazines have free linux cd in the magazine. Usually it is Ubuntu. here is where you can order a free kubuntu cd Requesting CDs from ShipIt here is where you can order a free ubuntu cd Requesting an Ubuntu CD I would get both. Ok as to scanning email, that would depend on what email client you use for email. do you Outlook Express, or some type of webmail like yahoo or hotmail? Most webmail clients have their on virus scanner that scans the email before it gets to your inbox. If you use Outlook or Outlook express you should have your Antivirus program on your pc set up so that it scans all of your email. If you get something in email that you want to download and save to your computer, go ahead and download it but before you open it right click on it and from the menu select scan with your antivirus program that will scan that individual file to see if it is clean before you open it. About the event viewer, that is in Control Panel, administrative tools, event viewer. In there you have several options to view, System, Applications, Security. To see when your pc has been logged onto and by whom you can look at the security section then on any line in there you can double click on it and it will open up an info box giving you details and codes about that event. If your pc was not turned on there should be no log on event for that time period. If the pc was not connected to the internet at that time there could not have been any type of breech it has to be connected for any log on events to happen other than your personal log ons. When you turn on the pc it begins recording that step by step in those various logs you can see where each thing starts up and does it's check procedure. So each time you turn on the pc and log in there will be an event for that. Now for someone other than you that does not have the pc in their possession and they manage to log into your pc(hack) that would happen when there is an active internet connection. That can happen if somehow they have been able to get a program on your pc that allows them access, if you do not have a firewall on and protecting you and are not behind a router it can also happen by what is called brute force where they use a password cracker software to break your admin password then gain access to your pc. I can not tell you anything about the event you may have seen since I have no idea what it said but if you had the pc locked in your car there really is no way anyone could have logged on to it that I know of. I think that is all of them. Anyone else feel free to jump in and add on.

Thought I'd update. Got Windows installed without a hitch, Dell talked me through it. I debated whether to put Win 7 in since I was starting from scratch but worried some of my software might not work Everything went well except I couldn't find drivers for some things such as my wireless adapter so couldn't get on line. Called Linksys and they spent over an hour trying to get the driver in and finally did. That was the best part, finally getting on line and getting hit with a zillion MS updates. I have misplaced or lost some software. We moved here in March and I could not locate my Office disk, wireless mouse/keyboard software and a few other things, might have gotten lost in the move. I'm most concerned about Office 07. I paid for it. Dell says they can't help and I could try contacting MS and see if they would do anything. I haven't moved any of my files back yet. Otherwise, I feel like the computer runs better than when it was new. Things seem different, have to fool with fonts and views, but I'm amazed how effortlessly the machine runs. This computer always seemed to have a few 'glitches' but I was used to it. Now it seems so fast and smooth (of course there isn't much running on it yet.) I don't know how to thank everyone for all the support and help I received. You are the best friends anyone could ever ask for. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! Thanks from the bottom of my heart... Jane

I don't understand this part about unplugging it but the blue dot still being on??? do you mean it was still on while you had it unplugged from the wall? As in there was still power on in the computer? Is the blue dot the power button on the laptop? If the laptop has a battery in it then it would not have turned the power off by unplugging it since the battery stores power to keep it running when you do unplug it. Have you tried removing the battery and then re installing it and doing a full power down while the battery is out? Try what mikie suggest using the F8 key tapping till you get to the startup menu and hopefully when you select last known good configuration it will start up normally.