Windows XP will not boot - a tricky problem

[Guest]

Help! I've had a PC running XP home successfully for 3 years with no
problems. It's been uipdated with SP2 etc etc. Then over 2 days it got
slower and slower and then it refused to boot. It got to the Windows XP
splash screen, and the little blue bars hopping across the screen suddenly
stopped. It did start in safe mode and after numerous attempts it did boot
fully. I virus-scanned it and spyware-checked it. Nothing. Then it refused
to reboot again.
So in a fit of frustration I reloaded XP, sound card drivers, Norton
antivirus, SP2, CD burner, printer/scanner software. And it worked.
Brilliant!
Then I loaded 2 further updates - Outlook Express security update and
Windows Media 10. And guess what? Windows refuses to boot again. Even
fewer of the pretty blue bars on the splash screen make their way across
their box before the system hangs. It will start in safe mode, but not
properly.
Before I go through the rigmarole of reloading everything again, has anyone
any ideas as to what might be wrong?

 

[Mark Test]

Charles, you say after a reload you fixed it, but adding
Outlook / Media 10 security updates it crashed.
Just my opinion here, but:

IIRC, a few folks have posted problems with outlook
security updates. Reload again and stay away from
the security updates, until you've done a bit more research
on the particular updates.

Use virus protection and fireall software to keep
your system safe, vice MS security updates, which seem to be "hit or
miss" on what they do to our PC's.

Mark