The other day, I suddenly lost connection to the Internet and was
unable to sign in. This turned out to be a problem with our firewall and our
service provider FINALLY rectified it for us. However, I have
subsequently found that the computer has stopped RECOGNISING our hardware
(scanner, speakers & printer) which all previously worked fine. Also, the
start menu and task BAR on Windows have changed as well as the Screen
Saver and the computer is not registering anything I CHANGE in the Control
Panel. I am pressing Apply and OK. Can you help me as I really need to
be able to use the printer etc! Thanks very MUCH!

Computer is Packard Bell, running on Windows XP. Currently using Norton Antivirus & have just started using AVG Anti-Spyware. Remaining RAM 512MB.
Am not very computer literate so if anyone can help, would be very appreciated!

ThanksIs Norton up-to-date?is it fine in safe mode?Is this a shared network printer or is it attached to the computer?

Go into Control Panel/System and see if there are any exclamation marks and report back.