I give up...is reformatiang my hard drive my last answer?

I have a fairly new Gateway laptop, XP system, Verizion wireless. My computer is at a crawl. I lost all access to internet options, I can't do system reinstall with my computer disk because I am missing "1386\DRV\DTA\DTA.LST", I have done system recovery to no avail, I can't download any programs from the internet, I can't install the program "Windows Live 'OneCare'" I can access the internet put only get my Yahoo email and Yahoo news. Every thing I do is slow, slow, %26 slow. I tried reinstalling XP but I can't. I looked in my Reg file for IE7 as suggested (I made no changes) and could not find anything. I can't download any Norton security or other antivirus programs. So, do I wipe out my hard drive? How? What are my risks? Will I be able to reinstall with my Gateway reinstall disk? Thanks.

I give up...is reformatiang my hard drive my last answer?norton 360

Lesson of the day! You download from file sharing sites, freeware sites, porn sites, THEY WILL COME! (viruses, hijackers, worms, adware, spyware, and other assorted malware). Now that you know, you are probably lookin at a reformat and you will no doubt lose software you didnt get disks for, be wondering why after the reformat your sound, video, usb devices, and other hardware doesnt work until you find out the drivers arent installed. You will then spend a month trying to figure out where to find this stuff......etc