"When I tried to boot up my computer this morning, it froze at the "resuming windows" screen and wouldn't go any further (I'm using Windows XP). Is this something I can try to fix or is it a major problem that needs to go to the shop? I tried rebooting several times and it wouldn't advance past this screen."
It sounds like your hard drive hiccupped and lost some of the files needed to start Windows. If you CAN'T get into Windows then you'll have to choose steps 1-2-3 below. The first idea though is to boot while tapping on the F8 key to see if you can get into Windows "Safe" mode. If it lets you in, then go to the start menu, choose "Help & Support" and then "Undo changes to your computer with System Restore". Choose a date PRIOR to when Windows woudln't boot and let the computer roll-back the calendar for you. If that works, then the next thing you should do is MAKE A BACKUP.
If you still can't get into Windows then here are some more possible solutions...
1) Boot from a CD "boot disk" that you have created while the system was good. (Yeah. Right. Like you knew to do that!) And do a complete backup of your data files.
2) Re-install Windows-XP. When you get it going, do a complete backup of your files.
3) Take it to a repair shop where they will re-install Windows-XP for you and POSSIBLY replace your hard drive after they test it to see if it's gone bad. Have them set up your old hard drive as an external drive that you can access to make backups of your data files.
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