Desktop settings will not save and fast computer time

Hello,

I have a Dell Inspiron 9300 running Windows XP Media Center Edition SP2. If there is someone who can help me solve the problem of my desktop settings not being saved, and possibly other problems, I would be much obliged. Regardless of what I do or how I configure things, when I log out and then login again (I am the administrator), the desktop items are rearranged with the Recycle Bin in the lower right corner, Auto Arrange goes back to being unchecked, Align to Grid goes back to being checked, and the Quick Launch Toolbar has disappeared because it's now unchecked although the taskbar was locked. Everything has to be reset except the wallpaper/theme, but when I log off, I see that it says "saving your settings...." To my knowledge, no settings have been intentionally changed recently and the only thing I installed is Adobe Acrobat 8. All my other programs seem to be running fine.

This started as an annoyance, but now it is a full-blown irritant--especially because four days ago the time on the computer was suddenly 9 and 1/2 minutes fast when it had been perfectly fine the previous night. I had no trouble synchronizing it and the time problem has not repeated thus far, but I am a little concerned now. After countless hours reading manuals and searching the Internet for info and solutions suggested by people with the same issues, I have tried the following things to no avail:

-Make sure I am clicking "Apply" and then "OK" after changing a setting, and then rebooting right away to see if the setting has been saved.
-Tried uninstalling Adobe Acrobat just in case it was the problem. I don't think it is.
-I use PCcillin Internet Security, Sybot S&D, AdAware, Windows Defender, CCleaner, and SUPER AntiSpyware regularly and none of them has found anything except a few tracking cookies even in Safe Mode.
-Checked to make sure that the value of Userinit in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon is "C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe," instead of something else.
-Some suggested that the behavior is a result of something called the Search Assistant Toolbar residing in the taskbar, but I can find no such thing installed on my system.
-Tried the Taskbar repair tool from Kelly's Korner
-Checked that the Quick Launch folders exist in the Application Data for both All Users and my profile
-Microsoft also said that desktop settings won't be saved if NoSave is enabled, but it is not. The registry keys HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer both have a value in the NoSaveSettings field of 0.
-Checked for all available updates to Windows and all my other programs, and for hardware updates.
-Tried System Restore to the earliest possible restore point--didn't work.
-Called Dell support because this laptop is less than a year old and they had me recheck all drivers, restart a zillion times, run syware and virus scanners, etc. The tech guy said it was a software problem and his final suggestion: just create a new profile and reinstall everything even though the old one doesn't seem to be "corrupted" per se, or try a full System Recovery. I'm not too thrilled about those options.
-I did, however, create a new user and then copy all the stuff (except ntuser.dat, ntuserdat.log, and ntuser.ini) from my old profile into there just to check. The new profile did seem to save my desktop settings after logging off. But my wireless network wanted to be totally reconfigured and when I tried to open a .doc file and Outlook, it wanted me to reinstall Microsoft Office.

I really would prefer not to have to reinstall programs if I can help it. And if there is a bigger problem at work, I'd like to fix it now instead of just preventing it for a little while. I am totally at a loss. At this point, if someone could help me out, I might even consider renaming my first-born after them. Thank you!