Ok, first, I'm running Windows XP Pro SP2 on an HP Pavilion 8760c. It originally came with Windows 98, but the previous owner upgraded it to the XP sometime before giving the computer to me. I do NOT have any disks, neither the original system disks nor any restore disks, nor does there seem to be any restore partition on the hard drive.
First problem is -- for some reason when I try to type into any text fields in any windows based programs, the cursor goes into hyperblink mode, won't click into any text field, and won't let me type in any of them. I first noticed the problem when I tried to use internet explorer, I went to Google like normal and while it will let me type in the address bar at the top, it won't type into the Google search field. I have since found out it is NOT IE specific, but it won't let me type into the windows help search field, or the field where you enter a name for a restore point when manually setting it, or in the captcha box on a game program I use or pretty much anything windows based. I downloaded Firefox and I can type in Firefox with no problems, which is fine for searching the web, but does not fix the problem.
Second, with the system restore... this computer used to work fine. I used it occasionally at my old house, then we moved and the computer sat idle for about nine months, and I just hooked it back up last week. When I did I found problems with the sound as well as the problem with the text fields I mentioned above, so I went to restore it to a point before we moved, only to find that my system restore calendar doesn't show up, so I can't see any restore points to restore to. System restore has been turned on all along,I already verified that it was on and the amount of memory allowed to system restore was already set to the max allowed. That is when I looked into setting a restore point manually to see if it would make the calendar show up, but of course I can't set one because it won't set one unless you name it and I can't type in the text field to name it because of whatever the above problem is. (I already fixed the sound issue)
The computer has not been hooked to the internet until the past week, AFTER I discovered the problems, when I hooked it up so I could download replacement sound driver files, etc, to try to fix these problems, so I think it's safe to say it's not a virus of any kind. Any ideas??