One more time:

If you have IE4 you probably are still running Win95?

There is a Win95 center at Microsoft that you might be able to get into, at Windows 95 Center where you could prowl around to see what you can do to keep/get things working. Since IE4 was the common Win95 version, that site might let you in - at least to get an upgrade(?). The site says it has a utility you can download to let you search the Microsoft Knowledge Base, and if you can get in to download that it may(?) let older browsers in.

IE5 was the default version for Win98, and even if you start with IE5 SR1 it requires several hours worth of downloads to get it to currently acceptable "secure" condition. The current version is IE6 SR1, and it is significantly better than previous versions, particularly in security areas. I would expect that any machine worth messing with should be able to run IE6 - but of course you have to be able to get into the upgrade site(s) to download the update. You'll need to look at system requirements to be sure you can run it, if you can figure out a way to get there.

If you happen to be running Win98 and for some reason installed IE4 on purpose(?) uninstalling Internet Explorer in Control Panel - Add/Remove Software should revert back to the Win98 default IE5.1. (You can't actually uninstall IE from Win98, but you can go back to that version by telling it to uninstall.) Unfortunately you may need your installation CD to complete an uninstall.

If you're sure that your CD drive is mechanically dead, you should be able to get a replacement for $30 or so (US), and they're not that hard to install. If it's a program screw-up, you'd probably be best off getting local support.

Even if your Norton is running, if the virus signatures it's using are more than a month old it is not protecting you from the "currently active" threats. The symptoms you described most commonly come from the KLEZ_32 virus which has only been widespread for about a year - and keeps coming back in new "variations." There are several others that can produce the same symptoms though.

A three year old machine that was current when you got it should be capable of being upgraded to useful performance, but if it was a "bargain basement" machine at the time, you might be better off replacing. Advice from someone who can look at what you have would be most effective.

John