Update: I have "fired" IE7 and have installed Firefox 2.0 instead. And things seem to be working (cross your fingers, hold your breath, stand on one foot, all those things that will help keep it working!)
I tried the sfc /scannow and got a black screen where it "verified" something, then that shut down and nothing else, so I'm guessing nothing was wrong?
At any rate, I received a response from Gateway who referred me to a technical bulletin that listed what steps I should take ... and I had already taken them all (and told them so) so wrote a not so nice reply informing them of this and also informing that I will not ever purchase another Gateway product.
So far I'm liking Mozilla and like I said, am keeping my fingers crossed! I also uninstalled the google toolbar and napster (never use it, don't really know what it is).
Thanks again for all your suggestions.
