delayed write failed errors,av scans not finishing

[juanabe]

windows xp professional sp3 32 bit- refurbished
3gb ram
176 gb hard drive
nvidia
avg anti-virus
mbam
ad-aware
firefox 3.5.7 with no script,wot,better privacy add ons
no pirated,cracked,warez
sites frequented until recently; stumbleupon.com, movie2k

a couple of weeks ago i found a link to secunia.com. adobe reader showed as a vulnerability. i deleted it and adobe.com, adobe acrobat, and adobe air and downloaded foxit reader as per suggestion from secunia.
a day or so later i was online and my screen went black. it didn't shut down, it just went black. i turned it off with the power button and rebooted without any problem or error warnings.
last week i changed residences and had my internet service transferred to the new address. the cable installer put a splitter on and ran the cable down the hallway to the computer room (about 25 feet). from there it is split again to the tv and to the computer. that is when i started having delayed write failed errors (in searching ,one of the 8 causes listed for delayed write failed was the cable being too long but i don't know enough to discern if that's the case).
since getting these errors, my browser changed ( add ons disappeared) and internet explorer opens sometimes when i search.

 the event viewer shows numerous errors and warnings.

 when i used search to find the device manager, i came up with ad-aware scan logs.

 in system information>internet settings>internet explorer>cache>list of objects:
 program file-{E2883E8F-472F-4FB0-9522-AC98F37916A7}
 status-damaged
 code base-http://p;atformdl.adobe.com/NOS/get PlusPlus/1.6/gp.cab

i ran combofix at another forum and it showed "mywebsearchservice" which i thought i got rid of and i don't want. how do i get rid of it?

my system is running slowly and i have so many questions that i don't know what to ask. i'd just like to get it back the way it was before this all started. any help would really be appreciated. thanks.

[patio]

Find out who made your hard drive...
Travel to their site and DLoad the FREE diagnostics...
Follow the info on creating a bootable CD...
Boot to the CD and run the long test.

[juanabe]

thanks for the post, patio. there is no link for diagnostics on the samsung website.(sp2004c). i called and they gave me a different website to set up a transaction number and said it would be 24-48 hours for them to reply. they also took address and phone #. what do i need to do? thanks.

[Helpmeh]

thanks for the post, patio. there is no link for diagnostics on the samsung website.(sp2004c). i called and they gave me a different website to set up a transaction number and said it would be 24-48 hours for them to reply. they also took address and phone #. what do i need to do? thanks.

For your hard drive model, look here. http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/utilities/Support_HUTIL.html

I checked and it lists your model as one of the supported ones for the tool.

[juanabe]

thanks helpmeh. all of this is a bit over my head (to say the least).so i understand it as thus:

1.start>accessories>system tools>back up
   run back up or restore wizard
   choose "back up files and settiings"
   choose "all information on this computer"
   wizard only offers 3.5 floppy. is there anyway to back up to cd? if not i'll have to buy
   a floppy in the next couple of days.

2.are the links at the bottom of the page for downloading of the hutil?

3.i'll be able to simply follow the prompts in order to complete this diagnostic?

4.when it's done, post log in this forum thread?

5.in setting aam, should i choose fast or middle?

my thanks and appreciation for your help.

[dahlarbear]

1.start>accessories>system tools>back up
   run back up or restore wizard
   choose "back up files and settiings"
   choose "all information on this computer"
   wizard only offers 3.5 floppy. is there anyway to back up to cd? if not i'll have to buy
   a floppy in the next couple of days.

1.  You can't possibly backup "all information on this computer" to either a single floppy or CD-R.  The floppy disk has a storage capacity of 1.44 MB.  A CD-R has a storage capacity of 700 MB.  You have a 176 GB hard drive.

Only "backup" data you can't afford to lose.  You don't have to use the "backup and restore" wizard.  You could selectively copy files to a USB thumb drive (flash) or external hard drive.  In my opinion, that would be the simplest for you.  Others may have their own opinion.

2.  I'm going to take a pass on questions 2 thru 5...