Forced to reinstall every time

Hello my younger brother recently got an Acer Aspire One yesterday and for the most part everthing seems to be working just fine,except for one tiny thing. The thing that has been causing us problems is that every time we turn it on we are forced to reinstall everything that we've installed previously. For example, I installed firefox, windows live messenger, and java. I had no problems with any of them while I was using the laptop either. Then when the laptop asked me to restart it so its automatic updates can take effect, I did. It was only after it restarted that I realized they had all been deleted. It is not only with newly installed programs either. The homepage I choose on internet explorer was back to its original one and also the internet explorer icon was no longer on the desktop like it had been before it restarted.

Any insight on what may be wrong would be extremely helpful. Thank you. :]

 

Is it a second hand device?
If it is, the first thing would be to check if EWF is installed.
Go to Start and run

Code:

cmd

.
Type

Code:

ewfmgr c:

read the output and post here.

 

Yeah it has had a previous owner.
I did what you asked and I got the following:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\USER>ewfmgr c:
'ewfmgr' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\USER>

I'm guessing this means EWF isn't installed.

 

Hmm...
Then try this on the command line:

Code:

fbwfmgr

I bet it has got something todo with some kind of write filtering.
Could you please describe your Aspire One a little bit more? SSD or HDD, model number, etc.

 

I did that and I got the same thing.
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\USER>fbwfmgr
'fbwfmgr' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\USER>

The model number is ZG5.
Under System in System Properties it says:
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 2
And under Computer it says:
Intel(R) Atom(TM)
CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz
1.60 GHz,0.98 GB of RAM

Also how do I know whether it has SSD or HDD? I think it's SSD though because we do have an hp 8GB usb flash drive.

 

Oh I made a mistake. Under computer it should be 798 MHz,0.98 GB of RAM instead of 1.60 GHz,0.98 GB of RAM.

I think the number changed after I inserted the flash drive. Either that or I just overlooked that number the first time.

 

In the BIOS you can see what HDD/SDD model you have.
If I were you/your brother I would ask the person who sold me the device what he did, or reinstall XP if that is no option.