Today the computer crashed when my mother was playing a game on it. When I came in it said that it couldn't locate the operating system. UNFORTUNATELY because of a new hard drive(a COUPLE of years ago)I don't have a usable recovery disc. I tried what I could and nothing until, out of desperation, I simply rebooted. When it restarted it was completely back again. I haven't installed anything recently so I am hoping this is just a glitch.
Any INFORMATION or suggestions would be helpful.
One other question, my mother is constantly turning the computer off and on when she uses it. She will play for awhile and then turn it off and in a couple of hours turn the machine back on to play some more. I've tried to tell her just to leave it on but she doesn't listen. Am I wrong or does this wear on the computer?
Thanks in advance for any help or information I get.

Brenda T. No. Turning computer on/off, if done properly through Start>Shut down vs. living it on all the time, doesn't matter.
If the above situation HAPPENED once, I wouldn't worry too MUCH, but I'd run HD test, anyway...http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287