Lets See What You Think The Problem Is

My computer is having some minor issues that maybe someone in here can help me with. First of all I have a Dell Inspiron 600M (laptop) with Windows XP Home Edition. The first problem that I am having is when I start up my computer. The second problem is with my USB ports. Before this started happening my computer was infected with tons of malware that made it almost impossible to use the computer. I had the service techs at my school work on it and they got the computer to work again but it had these problems.
Upon start up I get this message that says “Wireless Configuration” in the title bar and the message says “Notification DLL has not been registered, program will not work correctly.” The other thing that happens upon startup is that the start menu always opens. The screenshot below shows what I am seeing when I start up my computer. The second picture is just without the start menu open so you can see the error message more clearly.
The USB ports don’t recognize anything I plug into them. When I plug something in it makes that noise like the computer knows something is plugged in but it won’t let me access what I have plugged in i.e. flash drive, wireless mouse, and printer.
Like I said all of this stuff started happening after the malware infestation. I brought the computer back to the people who worked on it and they weren’t much help. They just told me that I had to reinstall windows which I would like to try to avoid due to the cost involved. Overall I have adapted my computer needs to work around these issues but I would really like to get them resolved in the interest of perfection.

Also I would just like to say thank you to the people who take the time to help me out. I appreciate it very much.

 

I found the zip file to contain 1 Word document and in it are 2 screenshots. I had to zoom to 200% to read 'em, but they are there, and they don't really show anything other than what the OP described. As to the wireless 'problem': it looks like it's the wireless connection utility from Dell, and not the actual driver. If you remove the connection utility and set Windows to control your wifi connection, you should have no problems connecting and the error will be gone. Alternatively, you can remove the utility and drivers using Add/Remove Program, go to the Dell support site and download the needed driver/software and re-install it. That should work also. Now, why does the Start menu open? I have no idea. I searched briefly at the Microsoft Knowledge Base but found nothing.

 

ok so i fixed the error message but i havnt recieved any input about why my USB ports dont work.

 

Ooops.... I forgot about that.... sorry.... try re-installing your chipset software. You should be able to download it from your PC/motherboard manufacturer. You could also try a safe Windows reload if the chipset software doesn't do it. Boot to your XP disc, press Enter at the first screen where it asks what you want to do (the other choice will be for the recovery console). Eventually you'll be shown a list of current Windows installations on your hard drive, there should be one listed. You'll be prompted to press "R" to repair the selected installation, or Esc to start with a fresh install. Obviously, choose "R". After that it's fairly easy. Click Next a bunch of times, type in the product key, and wait about 40 minutes and you're done. Here's links to a couple walk-thrus complete with screenshots:
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/How-to-repair-Windows-XP-t138.html
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/instxprepair1.htm