Basically, there was a security issue in the drivers for my graphics card. It was a 64-bit card and I installed 32-bit Windows.
Apparently, before SP1 was available, which fixed that issue, 6 trojan horses got in. They stopped SP1 from installing. After going through the ringer several times, I finally talked to a person who knew the problem. It was something about how the drivers tried to transfer between the 32-bit OS and the 64-bit card that left me open.
Ever since, my computer has been slow and has had weird issues. Like tinypic wouldn't ever load. Also, certain programs wouldn't install.
So I eventually talk to the dude that knew the problem and he takes the reigns and does some diagnostics. He tells me that to fix it I have to format the hard drive and do a fresh install. I'm okay with that because I was planning on it anyway, to upgrade to the 64-bit version.
The problem is, how do I do that? I have the disk to install the new copy, but when I go to install it, it tells me I can't and to check the log file. However, I don't know where that log file is, and it wiped my install of Windows out. How do I find the file and as a different route to get to the goal, how do I zero out the drive from Ubuntu 12.04? (I installed the 64-bit version just the other day)