You may be able to solve part of the problem (ATL.dll) with XP's sfc utility
At the run line,  type SFC /scannow. This will scan the computer for
altered/missing files and replace them. You'll probably need an XP disk
for this, and that may be a problem for a Dell computer.
If you get past that, you may wish to install a Spyware utility like Ad
Aware or MS Anti-spy Beta. Preferably both.

L H wrote:
> Dear friends,
>
>   Last Wednesday, my computer suddenly went haywire on me.  All  sorts of things are now not working because they can't find the ATL.DLL  file.
>
>   My son found a dowload of that file for me, and he told me where to put  it (c:\windows\system32) but my computer said it was already there and  wouldn't let me rename the old one to try saving the new one to that  location.
>
>   My computer is running VERY slowly now.  I can't do a system restore because that process needs this file.
>
>   I ran a virus check, using Computer Associates EZ Anti-Virus, which  found nothing.  That check took 6 hours, to give you an idea of  how slow I'm running!
>
>   I have Zone Alarm Firewall, using Microsoft XP Home, SP2.  My  computer was purchased in 2002 (September) if you think that is  important.
>
>   It used to "hum" and vibrate some upon startup, but it doesn't do that  anymore.  The yellow "thinking" hard drive light is on almost all  the time now.  There are times that I'm typing "blind" - the  computer isn't keeping up with my fingers.
>
>   I'd certainly appreciate any ideas or helps.  Aforementioned son  is coming home from college this Saturday, and he thinks maybe we need  to reinstall Windows, but I don't want to lose all my stuff.  I'm  thinking that if we can figure out WHERE  that specific ATL.DLL is  supposed to be, we can put it back or fix it somehow.
>
>
>
>

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