Web pages not loading and system restore failure......

[IPR512]

Hold off on the Kaspersky. Give Microsoft Security Essentials a shot. It's well recommended and it's free.
In order to use the disks that came with the computer you need to make sure that the computer is set to boot from the CD. When you first turn it on does it say down near the bottom of the screen or anyplace to press any key to boot to CD?

[rebsfan4]

I'm fairly certain it doesn't say anything about press any key to boot to CD. I will varify that when I get home.

[rebsfan4]

Just got home and rebooted the system. At no point does it say to press any key to boot to CD. Is this a bad thing?

[IPR512]

It's not a bad thing, but it becomes more complicated now for you to do a clean install. You want it to be able to boot from CD so you will have to get into the BIOS, and change the boot priority from hard drive to CD-Rom. Restart the computer and see if you see anything that says to Enter Setup press Del or F12 or something like that.
You can also go back to the manual to see if it tells you how to get into BIOS and how to change settings.

[rebsfan4]

Nothing of that nature. Unfortunately I do not have the manual. Dell Sopport says to tap F2 at computer start up to enter the BIOS. Is it as simple as doing that and then changing that one setting?

[IPR512]

Go back to this link and click on System Setup, scroll down and look at where it says Boot. That's where you change the boot priority from hard drive to Cd-Rom.
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc....htm#wp1057460

[rebsfan4]

Bare with me.......

I think I understand what they are saying in that link but not 100% positive about the actions to take.

I went into the system set up and this is what I saw. Not sure what to change......

Under the Boot Device Configuration I see........

Hard Disk Boot Priority [PRESS ENETR]
1st Boot device [REMOVABLE]
2nd Boot Device [HARD DISK]
3rd Boot Device [CD ROM]
Boot Other Device [ENABLED]

I'm not sure what to do or what to change. Should I change the 1st Boot device to [CD ROM]?

[rebsfan4]

Should I do as insrtucted here......

http://www.ehow.com/how_5920166_boot-dell-cd.html

Just to let ya know how little I have on the PC......
I have 3048 MB of installed memory
I have 3038 MB of available memory. LOL

[IPR512]

You need to change the first boot device to CD-Rom, and make the second boot device hard disk. You change them by using the keys on your keyboard. Usually Enter, and up and down keys.

[IPR512]

Yes, do what it says on the ehow link. Not sure why yours shows Removable as first boot device. Change it to CD-Rom and Hard disk second, and leave it like that. It might take a little longer to boot up that way, but in case you ever have to use an emergency boot disk you won't have to fiddle with the BIOS again.
By the way, good work on researchiing this, and trying to help yourself.
Those numbers you see for available memory mean RAM not what the capacity of your hard drive is. If you click My Computer, and look at C: drive you will see the capacity of your hard drive, and how much space is left.

[rebsfan4]

Alrighty then. I'm gonna give it a shot and see how it goes. Thanks for your patience with all my questions and concerns.

[IPR512]

After you reinstall Vista you'll have to use the drivers CD to reinstall those. I would install the Network one first so you at least can get an internet connection.
In case you get stuck you can download them from here:
http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/.../inspiron-531s
After that make sure you install an antivirus app. As mentioned before Microsoft Security Essentials does a good job, and it's free if you haven't already bought Kaspersky.
The last thing you need to do is Windows Updates.
Hopefully things will go smooth along the way. Good luck, and let me know how you made out.

[rebsfan4]

I only hve one disk for Drivers and Documentation. Will the Network one be on that same disk or should I have a seperate disk for that?

[IPR512]

It should be on the same disk.

[rebsfan4]

Good deal.