Missimg .DLLs, any ideas, please?

Wise move not downloading those "fixes" I know exactly what you mean. Every time you google some computer issue, there is all these "we'll fix it" downloads instead of solid info. Ya, probably mess you up even worse. 
 
There are some reliable computer forums, Tom's Hardware is one I have found useful. 
 
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/
 
 how old is`your harddrive. 
 
I don't have any solid answers and I personally hate fussing with OS and Registry stuff.  I'm inclined to start fresh and just redo my system from the ground up. Xp is pretty easy to re install and if you are like me and only use the computer for a DAW it's the bullet proof solution. I would use a new hard drive. 
Might take a couple of hours but you can easily spend that just trying to find a bandage. 
Things always run better new. 
Just make sure you can still get all your system drivers. These things get tricky over time. 
 
Here we have a computer forum you could try.
This branch forum is very dead, nobody comes here. So try the computer forum or even the X series forum where there are lots of people. 

I believe the "WX" errors refer to this https://www.wxwidgets.org/. Look in the Windows logs for error messages; it may point to the true cause of the failure. The description above, unusually long load times and missing files (files no longer able to be read), could indicate a drive failure.
 
Assuming it is the drive and the programs are installed along with the OS, then it would be a new system drive. It may also be the case that some things on the failing drive may not be recoverable.
 
Depending on the age of the machine, it may be time for a new PC.

Okay, thanks you guys, I really appreciate your input. It does seem as though I spend far more time these days as an IT than a musician-and while learning can be fun, I'm getting fairly sick of jacking around with dlls and all this other stuff. I'll take your word for it about the drive and the new pc. and thanks for the advice on the second drive, I would have just done it from my external but your way makes more sense. Also, thanks for the advice on the bundles. I hate to do this, but while I'm here ( if you read this), I also just got this:
 
"Microsoft Visual C++ runtime library
Runtime error!
Program:C:\Program Files\Cakewalk|Shared Utilities\VstScan.exe
 
R6034
An application has made an attempt to load the C runtime library incorrectly.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.
 
The programs (Sonar and Reason) are still working fine as far as I can tell except that seemed to have lost the ability in Reason to enable my Redrum sequencer, which is unfortunate.
 
If you are still here, has this ever happened to you or do you have some idea why this has happened? I've researched this and it has happened, for seemingly reasons unknown, to others but not in the music biz. Seems to be with other programs that I would not use-like maybe programmer stuff. Please chime in on this if you have experienced it before or have some idea about what happened or how to fix it.
 
Thanks for your fast replies, hope you have time for one more
 
bob

Okay, thanks again. I'm not convinced necessarily of the bad drive idea, but everyone seems to think so. This may be the case. I do thank everyone who chimed in here. I guess I'll just keep on bangin on until she shuts down.
 
Thanks again,
bob

Was there any error information in the Windows logs? Disk failure seems a good candidate with the available information. It could be a virus. It could be something else or a combination of things. Although the content of a complete  backup at this point would be questionable, it may be instructive as to the extent of the problem. So too a defrag and error check. I would not expect it to do much good and may accelerate the failure. Again, it is all speculation based on few clues and no data from the logs.

Hello again, it seems there may still be some hope here! Thanks for all your replies and suggestions. I'll try to provide more info. I'm no pc tech by any means, so it may not seem too coherent:
 
When I first ran into this problem, I did not want to look into the choice that seemed most correct which was bad memory. I figured it must be some sort of damnable malware or virus. I spent alot of time toward that end. Malware bytes found nothing, yes, even in safe mode. 
I eventually moved on to the Memtest 86 routine (didn't want to learn anymore! Oh no!) But I did, and discovered after about 24 hours of straight testing (per strip) that I had 2 bad 1 gig memory strips. Seemed hard to believe, but it did stop all the BSOD that I was getting, thereby seemingly eliminating the malware/virus angle. I bought 2 new Kingston I think it was and installed. PC says I have my memory back again.
 
Now, somewhere along here, before I fully knew I had a major problem, I downloaded an update to Audacity. This seems like where everything turned to crapola. There were no problems with this as far as scans go, but I recently looked deeper into this (love spending all my time on forums researching things like this, don't you?) and discovered that there was some sort of problem with XP and the Audacity update-it wasn't just me. What happens is an immediate crash with either blue screen or just black screen. One of these error codes implicated my Line6 drivers which I find hard to believe since I've never had problems with this before-ever.
 
All along I've run many chk disk scans and tried scannow. I never know whats happened with these, it just finishes and sits there looking at me-no info on what it finds that's relevant to me and my problem.
 
I'm sure there is more, but I'll just leave this here for now to see if this indicates anything to anyone.
As far as I'm concerned, it all mostly traces back to that Audacity download. Like you said, it may be a combination of things. Either way it sucks bad, and I sure wish I could fix this.
 
Oh yeah, I didn't get a restore disk for this Dell Inspiron 530, although I have downloaded one, but am afraid to use for several reasons-mostly just can't trust anyone except in this forum.  Sorry I didn't mention that earlier-don't hate me brothers!
 
Thank you for using your precious time to read this and comment, I do truly appreciate it.
Let me know if you think of anything to try.
 
bob

This information does make a difference. Maybe a clean reinstall of the affected software will clear it up. This would involve uninstalling the software, cleaning the registry and reinstalling. Hopefully it will also clear up the MS lib errors. If not you may need to grab them from MS and reinstall them too. Since XP support is becoming a thing of the past, updating software is going to become more of a problem.

If you want to clean your registry,try ccleaner. Get it here:

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Grem I thank you for your response. Do you have experience with CCleaner? I actually have, I guess, a slightly older download of this but am scared as hec to try it. I mean, couldn't I wipe out some critical stuff? Once upon a time, I would just take the program's advice, but, nowadays, with much more at stake with my music programs and all their files (dlls and stuff), I'm kinda fearful to try then though I have a feeling that the problem lies there (maybe).
Have you used that download site before? There are so many greedy bastards out there these days, they could care less if they destroy all your hard work.
 
Please let me know if you have the time and thanks for your help.
 
 
Hey scook, that's funny, "I have not had the pleasure of reinstalling the Cakewalk software" Me neither. I wonder if it is that bad....Thanks for supplying the link. Haven't checked it yet, but I will. That may be what I have to do, then again, it may solve nothing for this problem.  Thanks again
 
bob
 

I never thought I would have to re-install either, but here it is, I guess. What happens if you just go to add/remove programs to uninstall? Will this not take care of the uninstall? It seems more and more, that going to add/remove is not the recommended way to remove programs for reasons I don't know. If you have the time and inclination, could you tell me what these 2 reg keys look like or where to find them exactly (best guess). I just get a little lurchy when I start thinking about messing with them for some reason. If you don't want to I won't hold it against you. I just want to be as prepared as I can before I start. And, thanks for all your help.
 
bob