I very much doubt it has anything to do with which version of Windows it's running. None of XP, Vista or 7 should have the problems you describe. Vista cannot cause bad sectors.
With bizarre intermittent problems like you seem to be having, it's often a nightmare to diagnose without lots of time and effort.
If you're going to try to diagnose the problem yourself, the 1st step should be to put the laptop back in the condition you got it, using the restore disk (don't forget to back up all your files 1st!). Use it in this pristine condition for a while; if the problems with corrupt files still occur, then the problem is with hardware somewhere. The hard disk is one possible culprit, and replacing it isn't a bad idea, but at this stage you need the help of an expert you trust.
More likely however is that your problems will go away when you use the restore disk. In which case there's nothing wrong with the hardware, and something was probably up with your Windows installation. You can try upgrading to Windows 7 again, I suspect this time it will work fine (often the reason there's something wrong is that something went wrong during the upgrade process, but will just as likely go right the next time you try it!).
John
November 2009
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