Once they’re secure, you need to fix the Hard Disk. The drive is failing and it is only going to get worse. Depending on how big it already is the crack could get larger. Frankly, given what you’ve described and the fact it is now 8-9 years old I’d not waste any money on getting the drive replaced.
One of the best things about Windows historically is that you could go into any electronics retailer, buy any hardware device in the store, bring it home, and know it would work. Conversely, one of the worst things about any new version of Windows is that the previous statement no longer applies. He needed a network adapter but had to be sure he got one of the few models that worked in the then new NT 4.0 system. You do not need to input the Windows 7 product key before ejecting it Canon Mg2522 driver in favour of inserting the Windows XP disc.
You may also need to enter some settings in a web browser. Plug your modem’s power cable into an electrical outlet.
Once your computer has rebooted, repeat this process until there are no more critical updates. Now that Windows XP is installed, the next step is to install required drivers for your motherboard, graphics cards, sound card, and any other device installed in your computer. For this, you will need the the driver CDs for each of those devices, or will need to download the drivers on another computer and copy them over via a writable CD or USB thumb drive. You will also be prompted to set up user accounts. Enter the names of people who will be using this computer. This creates separate profiles for each user. By default, these accounts are created with Administrative Rights.
It took more than four minutes to go from a cold start to a working internet connection. When I first looked at it this notebook it had only 8 GB of free space. Vista received updates and service packs and after few years it became smooth and stable. But people refused to give it another chance, so Microsoft re-released it as Windows 7 with some changes to the user interface and rebranding.