[murphyv310]

Hi James.
I'm wondering if the problem might be due to XP being a well out of date OS now. Are you running any anti virus programs that are out of date or not been updated?
The lack of support is quite worrying for XP now and as we know any Windows OS can be quite vulnerable to attack so firewalls and virus protection are important.
I still use XP on one machine for Car software and Radio stuff but I never connect it to the internet.

James, if you just to basic things with your PC, likes of music, photos, documents and internet why not move over to Linux, you don't need virus protection and a lot of add ons, plus most of the OS (Mint, up to the latest 18) comes with Firefox and a good mail program Thunderbird.
If you stick with XP though I'd be wary on the net if you get this sorted out. Perhaps run restore which may help.
Good luck.