Go to your local UPS Store and ask them if they have anything like that in stock. UPS has had its stores go through a number of laptop shipping boxes/supplies, and they may have something that works for you.
Turn off PowerMizer completely, and see if that fixes it. Everytime I've had Powermizer turned on, it causes this occasional, random flicker/blur effect.
It's worth it, but only if you actually intend to keep your laptop for a long time. For laptops, which are moved around often and invariably subjected to more abuse than other electronics, the risk usually outweighs the...
Free: Avira Antivir, Grisoft AVG, Avast!
Paid: Kaspersky, NOD32
Personally, I use Avira on all my systems now. BTW, I strongly recommend looking at the test results from http://www.av-comparatives.org/ and seeing what various...
Before you reformat, go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer. See if any applications logged an error in any of the various logs available there. This might provide you a clue.
BTW, it is possible to screw...
eBay - study seller's history, make sure the laptop is new and that the warranty is transferrable. You can ask the seller for the service tag and check the product out at support.dell.com.
Store - I usually stay away from them,...
Prime95 is more of a "stability" testing utility for OCed systems, though it might work. Try Memtest86+ (http://www.memtest.org/) which can be used from any bootable USB drive. You can use HP's USB drive utility to make any...
