My friend was unable to locate the virus or corrupted file that was causing the problem and so he purged the hard drive and re-installed the operating system.
However, then the problems began: the software for my internet access couldn't be loaded because the screen resolution was too low; so he'll have to find some sort of conversion program and the appropriate driver.
Once the connexion has been re-established an anti-virus program will have to be installed, plus a driver for my sound card, and hopefully some remaining updates for Windows 98SE and Internet Explorer...oh, and an office/wordprocessing package.
The next tasks will be to install the software for the printer/scanner and webcam.
At this stage I should be able to continue by myself; downloading MSN Messenger, various media players...and set my bookmarks that I can remember.
I suspect that even if I were to actually buy a new computer, the process of getting back online would still be nearly as complicated - this puts off so many people from using the internet.
