Hello Confused Mom,
You should follow jcgriff2's instructions.
I would like to point out that there is a possible hardware issue at play here and possibly a corrupted Windows installation.
If you wouldn't mind, I would like you to run a full memory test and hard drive test as I will outline in the following instructions.
Let's start with the memory test.
We are going to run the following tests outside of the Windows environment, so I would like you to download Memtest86+ from the following link.
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
You will want to select the CD image (.iso) version of the file.
Burn it to disk per jcgriff's instructions earleir.
- Insert the Memtest86+ CD in your computer's optical drive.
- Boot the PC to the Memtest86+ CD.
- Memtest86+ will begin immediately (and automatically).
- Let Memtest run for a minimum of 2 to 4 hours or until you see memory errors. Errors show up on the bottom half of the screen highlighted in RED.
- Please report the results of the memory test.