Don, I tried doing a System Restore, but that  needs the atl.dll file.  I tried doing it in safe mode, too, but  again System Restore wasn't working.

 I tried the SFC/scannow  (as per Hugh's post), but I don't have an XP disk and my computer  didn't know what I meant.  My son is bringing home all sorts of  stuff to help me, and I think he has an XP disk.

 I used safe  mode when the problem first appeared, and the computer was running  faster than in regular mode, but obviously that is not meant to be a  normal thing (running in safe mode all the time).

 An  interesting thing happened this morning - I turned the computer on and  it decided on its own to do a chkdsk before starting Windows.  All  sorts of lines of text went flying up the screen as it worked...and now  the computer is running faster (dare I say at normal speed?) but I  still don't have the atl.dll file that I need.

 I forgot to  mention in the first post that I am also missing MSOE.DLL, which means  I can't use Outlook Express any more, and I have to go to the web to  retrieve my mail instead of using OE.

 I am using an  eMachines, and I've been so happy with it since I bought it.  This  is the first problem I've ever had with it, in a little over 3 years.

  Now that the I have an acceptable running speed, I'm going to run the  AV scans again and see if there is anything that shows up.  I will  also do another SpyBot and AdAware scan (but I had just done all of  this the day before the problems began) - I usually do these weekly,  but I've been hesitant this week since I have been barely able to  function normally with all this mess.

 If you have any more  ideas, please send them along.  I'll let you know how things go as  per your request.  You've helped me out before - I really  appreciate you.

  Laurie

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