All the crap that came with the cracks have most likely corrupted system files. I did suggest in post #31 that you attempt a system repair.

yea i've been looking at that, but that post you linked made it sound like "omg it's such a big deal make sure you really really really really really want to do it and know what you are doing or your computer will blow up!" >.<

is it really that critical of a thing to do? i've looked at the cd install but nothing on it apparent saying "repair" i'm just afraid of making my mistake and making the problem worse, accidentally erasing my drive(s), losing my data, etc. >.<

Those instructions are not as hard as they look. You need to go into your bios and set up your computer to boot from the CD. Pop the XP CD into the drive and wait for the install to reach the "Welcome To Setup" stage. Follow the instructions as per that site.

yea but it has all these precautions and whatnot and makes it sound like a last ditch effort kind of thing and that i'll lose a lot. i really don't want to make things worse.

have you done a repair? is it easy and safe?

I have done one repair and several reformats. The first time is always the hardest . Provided you follow the instructions to the letter, you will be ok. Print the instructions out and read through several times until you get a picture in your head of what you have to do.