Windows fails to load.

[#1]

Every time I try to load a program onto my new (used) PC, widows freezes while loading on the next reboot.  I have tried loading several different programs like Open Office,  ZoneAlarm AV,  Canon Printer Utilities, etc and each time I have had to revert to 'system restore' via 'safe mopde'.  Once the program has been removed Windows loads normally again.
Pre-installed integral programs like IE & OE etc run OK.
I am running XP Pro.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

[#2]

can you get another copy of the files you are trying to install incase they are the problem ?    I had exactly this,  but I went the re-install windows again.. not much help sorry

[#3]

Does it freeze and not come back or if you leave it longer would it start.
Does the HD light keep flashing?
Most of the programs you have listed change something at startup which is were the problem may be try downloading winrar fromhttp://www.rarlab.com/download.htm and see if thats ok as it doesnt change anything at startup.
Anything in the event log?
It could be a disk problem and adding anything goes to a bad sector which it trys to read but cant on startup. From a cmd prompt ie start/run type cmd and in the dos box type
chkdsk c: /f /r it will say it cant do it do you want to run it at startup press y wait a few mins reboot and it should check the disk not any errors.
run msconfig again from a cmd prompt can you give us a list of whats running at startup?

[#4]

Handy little free process viewer  http://www.snapfiles.com/get/processexplorer.html

[#5]

Samuria, thanks for that. Here are the answers to your reply.
Freezes and does not come back.
HD light on continuious.
Downloaded winrar....Windows loaded ok on reboot..so thought like you that it maybe startup prob but after a couple of successfully attemps XP failed to load again...I started in 'safe mode' and shut down.  Next time XP started OK.
Did chkdsk and while 'verifying file data' got "replacedbad clusters in file 751 of name\system-1\_R94F8-1\A0002229.dll"  (Verifying free space took over 1 hour) is that normal?
Thought this may have solved the prob so tried loading the Canon printer utilities as a check.  On reboot XP started ok but a couple of times but later XP failed to load again1.  Does not seem consistant.
Proge launched at Start-up.  Soundman,  ntune,  ASUSprob,  overclk,  ctfman,  msmsgs,  adobe reader.
Hope you can advise.

[#6]

Would consider start backing all your important stuff,  either corrupt windows or hard drive on the way out  Bad Cluster refers to hard drive about to fail.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139836 ; < - 55.87
Fairly painless to install / You will need to check your current hard drive because there are 2 main types    Sata or IDE, the one I've just quoted is IDE - its a case of removing old one and inserting new one then using your re-install cds to reinstall everything back on.
but back up your stuff urgently, you don't normally get long.

[#7]

Bit worried about your startup you dont give a lot of detail download startupcpl free from
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
Run it and it lets you untick startup programs and you can retick them if needed. untick
Soundman,  ntune,  ASUSprob,  overclk,  ctfman,  msmsgs,  adobe reader.
From the filenames it suggests some of these are overclocking utils which can cause your problems. Reboot after you have unticked them so they dont load and see if that helps, you can just go back and tick them if needed.l
A more complete list of startup would help. What is the spec of your pc? It could just be the HD is not capable of keeping up and getting corrupt

[#8]

Samuria and Mrmarky, with your help I am coming to the conclusion that the HD may indeed be playing up.  I say this because after starting the PC up many times over the past few days while trying out various things and doing 'system restores' etc results have not been consistant.
For example,  I can start up XP successfully three or four times in a row and things seem normal then I leave the PC off for a longer period ie 6 or 8 hours or over-night and the next time the PC is started, XP fails to load even though no progs have been added or removed.
The HD is a sata Maxtor 200G and I have no important data loaded on it.  I have a brand new IDE Maxtor 200G that I bought a while back so think I will remove the suspect sata HD and fit the new IDE HD and possibly up-grade to a sata later if need be.
Once I put in the new HD and switch on, what can I expect to happen, do I need to format or partition the new HD or will the XP Pro installation CD supervise this?

[#9]

If you are installing from scratch partitioning and formatting the drive will be done as part of the XP installation process. Just boot it with the installation CD in the drive and it should take you through it.

[#10]

Did you try my suggestion above as if you have a overclocker running that may be all thats wrong and removing it from startup may fix it. Once you overclock all sorts of strange things can happen.
Secondly download the test tool for your drive from
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools  this will tell you if there is a fault on the drive and if it has a fault you may be still under guarantee

[#11]

Yes have tried your suggestion and removed all those items from the start-up.    Restarted successfully 3 or 4 times in succession, then left PC off for 6 hours and next time it failed again on XP load.
Down loaded  Seatools to check HD and got the message "this prog requires .NFT framework 2.0 or higher".    OK...."installation ended prematurely because or error".  So could not check HD by that method.  Ran chkdsk again and all seemed ok.
Still stumped.

[#12]

Download .NET framework from here
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displa...

[#13]

A suggested you can get the framework then reinstall or there is a DOS version on the site as well.
Is everything else ok its not to hot or cmos errors on boot up check for dust inside ?

[#14]

PC running cool and no errors.
Downloaded Seatools and tested HD...came up as Short DST Fail.  Retested and got the same.
Now atempted to install new HD from scratch...files load from my XP Pro disk......comes to the screen that says "starting Windows" and get
"not a valid Windows CD"
I know this is a genuine original  Microsoft Windows CD and I have the Key. 

[#15]

DST is Drive Self Test. A bit of Googling tells me this probably means the drive is on its way out. Is this the old drive or the new one?