Well, I've gotten myself into another fix.
This time, I compressed old files on my laptop as prompted to by winXP, so i could get some more space, etc.
The problem is, somewhere along the lines, it either compressed or deleted a vital dll file that windows needs to start up. everytime I start the computer, it immediately goes to a black screen saying that I have to install that file again oir windows cannot run.
Usually i'd just wipe it and reinstall XP, but it's a family computer with files on it that they didn't bother to back up anywhere else.
Any ideas on how you can either re-install that file, or XP without losing data?