One thing to remember though, it's not having an XP disk that is important, it's having a valid and legal serial number for it.

Oops! I didn't spot that it was a lappy.

It should be in power options.

No, a graphics card will make far more difference as built in graphics are usually very low end.

Try installing the Vista motherboard drivers. That may cure the problem.

You probably have built in graphics. That uses up a part of your ram. It's probably 256meg rather than 210 that appears "missing".
If your pc can take a plug in card it will be quite a bit quicker...

Look at processes in task manager, there is a column called CPU. It shows what percentage of the CPU's time each process is using.

Have a look in device manager to see if it shows the problem up. INSTRUCTIONS (http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/2d8d5582-c5bc-4395-945f-5c6a273c5afa1033.mspx)

hit Ctrl+Shift+Esc and have a look at Task Manager to see if a process is eating up processor time. If that is happening, let me know what the process is.

Another NO here. I have tried Windows7 64bit on a 32bit machine just to see and it says "wrong CPU installed".

Absolutely, they have supplied you with faulty equipment, it's their job to sort it out for you at absolutely no cost.

It could be any number of things but it's most likely to be a bad graphics card.

Take it back.

What protective software do you have and have you scanned with it?

I need to know precisely what the error message is in order to help.

Download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (http://www.majorgeeks.com/Malwarebyt...are_d5756.html) to your desktop.

* Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
* At the...

This is all a bit moot, the OP hasn't returned since his first post!

An Mbam scan will tell us if it is malware related.

Download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (http://www.majorgeeks.com/Malwarebyt...are_d5756.html) to your desktop.

* Double-click mbam-setup.exe...

Is AVG the only protective software you have?

I have a dual boot with Windows 7 and it sorted all the drivers for me. It even set up my broardband without a hitch via wireless.

Because it is more likely to work on it than XP is!

Windows 7 isn't released yet. I doubt you will find a driver until it is.

What exactly is wrong?

Do not do a system restore. Post the Mbam log then download HiJackthis (http://download.cnet.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html) and post a log from that too.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=197

http://media.photobucket.com/image/dxdiag%20in%20vista/pwtechsupport/dxdiag.jpg

The button that says "Test Direct 3D".

Run all the graphical tests and report any errors here.

Graphics can only be built in on a majority of laptops.

Run dxdiag on it.
Click on the Start orb and type "dxdiag" in Start Search. Hit return and
off you go.

Have a look for any problems.

Ask Microsoft, they make it!

Stick the disk in and follow what it says on screen.

Yes to both questions.

Have HJT fix the following via the process before.

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IpShark] "C:\Program Files\IpShark\IpShark.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [IpSharkk] "C:\Program Files\IpSharkk\IpSharkk.exe" /auto
...

Place a tick next to the following entries in HJT.

O2 - BHO: WormRadar.com IESiteBlocker.NavFilter - {3CA2F312-6F6E-4B53-A66E-4E65E497C8C0} - C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgssie.dll (file missing)...

Viewpoint should be removed in add / remove programs unless it is the paid for version.

Open HJT and place a tick next to the following entry.

O4 - HKLM\..\RunOnce: [Launcher]...

Ok, I will keep an eye out.

Locate the mbam.exe with your "my computer" and rename it to scanner.exe and try again.

What graphics card have you installed?
What graphics card were you using before?
Did you uninstall all drivers and software for the old card before you installed the new one?
Have you installed...

Your PC is definitely infected, download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (http://www.majorgeeks.com/Malwarebyt...are_d5756.html) to your desktop.

* Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts...

Thing is, if the original poster doesn't have a 64bit CPU, it wont work!!

I am sorry but I have to disagree with a small part of the above statement.


Reason.
With all in one software, if one part of it gets attacked you can loose the whole lot (Norton for example)....

It depends on Your CPU. If it is 23bit then you must get the 32 bit version. If it is 64bit then you can use either.
The 64bit version should in theory be a bit quicker than the 32bit version.