So I had the day off yesterday, and I made plans to call Microsoft's Toll-free help line and try to get their opinion on what was ailing my system. After being on the phone for a hour and forty minutes, having an MS tech-support staffer remotely checking things out on my PC, recommending that I uninstall Norton, only to find that it didn't solve the problem, the staffer informed me that it would require "higher-level tech support" to resolve the issue, which would be available if I had a Microsoft membership, which would cost $149 for a year , or $99 for a one-timer. I promptly replied that these options were out of my price range to simply resolve a software issue. I asked if performing a reinstall of Win7 might solve the issue. She said that it might. I made the attempt, but the install refused to go through. At this point, if I want to return my system to full functionality, it will require a more extensive rebuild.
On a side note, I followed LHN91's suggestions. The Services program tells me that Windows Update isn't activated, but attempting to activate it leads to a failure and error message that even the MS tech support woman couldn't resolve. Also, through the Event Viewer I found that the system update created a restore point, but when I used the system restore program, it informed me that there were no restore points to select. The MS rep seemed to think that the system update failed, and the result was all of this nastiness. I am surprised that the restore point was deleted though. This sounds too co-ordinated to have been accidental. I am beginning to suspect a virus of some kind.
I have decided that if am to sink some more cash into this PC, it will be into upgrading it. I plan to at the very least get a new and larger hard drive, set it up as my primary, reinstall Windows 7 on that drive, wipe my old install, move all my files from my larger partition over to the new drive and just format the entire old drive. I should only need the new drive, and probably a new copy of Norton, as my current one expires in a month anyway.
On the other hand, I am also considering following the GO-BIG-OR-GO-HOME attitude, and making plans to, in addition, upgrade my motherboard, CPU, RAM, and Video card at the same time. The trick will be pitching this to my mother. I have no doubt that she will agree to fund the basic upgrade, but the overhaul is something in another class altogether. The basic upgrade could go for about $240, while the super overhaul I'm looking at could be as much as $900. Also, both of these figures assume that I can reinstall my exiting copies of Windows 7 and Office 2010. New copies of Win10 and Office 2016 come in at about $300 for the pair.
I'll be pitching her the situation this weekend. Wish me luck.