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[throwingks]

I would format and install a fresh XP, update to the latest Service Pack from Microsoft, and make sure I had all of the latest drivers from Dell.

I, personally, would not use Dell's recovery disc. I would use a fresh, clean full copy of XP. Or, whatever else OS you like.

[Kraptreon]

go to start, run, msconfig, startup. and turn everything off but avgtray or anything else that has avg. then...
go to start, run, services.msc, and turn everything to manual but

AVG8 WatchDog
Cryptographic Services
DCOM Server Process Launcher
DHCP Client
DNS Client
Event Log
Network Connections
Network Location Awareness (NLA)
Plug and Play
Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
Server
Shell Hardware Detection
Task Scheduler
Windows Audio
Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework
Windows Management Instrumentation
Workstation
Wireless Zero Configuration

those are the only services i have running, you can disable more but it cuts down on convenience. and before touching this stuff take a screen shot of it just incase.