window xp and ie issue

[223sam]

have xp with apparently sp1 .. all versions of ie will not load nor install..
some want sp2 .. sp2 will not install say missing components. mozilla
works but  will often starts many sites and  then freeze for 1-4minutes then loads.
no virus detected nor any other programs running. many web pages
will go white till the one loading finally succeeds in loading.. all after
1-4 minutes ..any ideas???

[soybean]

Me thinks a good formatting of the hard drive and fresh installation of windows would solve your problem, at least for a little while.   

What spyware protection are you using?  What firewall?

You don't know whether you have SP2 for Win XP installed?  Right click on My Computer and select Properties.  What do you see  on the General tab?

All Windows computers come with IE.  With Win XP, you either have IE 6 or IE 7.  What do you have? 

[223sam]

ie and sp2 will not install . ie on the computer will not run "syntax error" then
closes. mozilla will install and run fine , unless web page is involved then
ALL other open pages go totally "white" till the newly requested page
is finally loaded 1-4minutes. can not install sp2 without ie7 but can not
install ie7 to get the sp2!! what to do?? why does mozilla work without
too much effort??

[soybean]

Instead of intiating the update to SP2 via Windows Updates, go here, download the SP2 file, and then install it. 

What the capacity of your hard drive?  How much free space do you have on your hard drive?  How long since you ran a disk cleanup utility (Windows Disk Cleanup or a third party utility such as CCleaner)?  How long since you defragmented your hard drive?

[223sam]

sp2 downloads but will not install , usually just extracts then
closes. did get "cannot verify crytopgraphics" for a brief flash..

[soybean]

Me thinks a good formatting of the hard drive and fresh installation of windows would solve your problem, at least for a little while.   

[patio]

Is your XP CD shiny with the word Microsoft all over it ? ?