Confused. Need Help.

Dear Sirs I have recently updated from ME to XP Home Edition. The reason for this is that I was advised XP is far more stable than ME. However, I am having a few problems and don't know what to do. Maybe something has entered my system and has contaminated it. Maybe there is a corrupt file. I am confused. Basically I find certain hardware disabled and I am unable to copy from CD to CD etc.etc. We reinstalled The Adaptec (Roxio) CD Recording Software (which includes Easy CD Creator 4 and Direct CD) which I originally had, but because of what happened very quickly after, I did some fast checking and I found that version is totally incompatible with XP! I was being confronted with all sorts of error messages and dialogue boxes saying one or other of the following..... Adaptec CD Copier...CD Copier could not locate a supported CD-Rom Reader. You will not be able to make disc to disc copies. CD Copier cannot find Easy CD Creator. Please re-install Easy CD Creator. Easy CD Creator Engine initialisation has failed. Not knowing what was happening and having little knowledge of the workings of a computer, I removed the programme using Add/Remove Programmes. If it was indeed incompatible I decided it was better not part of my system. I also tried to remove any other bits and pieces but still to this day, I am unfortunately having problems. Re. my Pioneer DVD-ROM. DVD-116 and Samsung CD-R/RW SW-212B hardware.... Despite updating their drivers I found them disabled by Windows. They still remain disabled today. I also had these error messages every time I started up and for some strange reason, I still continue to have exactly the same ones today, every time .....even though the programme has been uninstalled ( presumably) 'Devices or Applications Disabled'. "CD Recording Software" will cause Windows to become unstable. Windows has prevented these drivers from loading. Click here for more details.' This message leads me to Microsoft Support .....Error message No. 315345............. 'A CD -recording device is installed that might cause stability problems, incl problems shutting down and problems using a CD/DVD drive. This driver will be disabled.' 'The drivers may be installed by Easy CD Creator or Windows Media Player or Real Jukebox' (I don't have the latter) 'You might not be able to record CD's until you obtain compatible drivers.' Description... "The Cdralw2k service has failed to start due to the following error etc. This driver has been blocked from loading. For more information see Help and Support etc.' One reason quoted.. 'You have an early version of Easy CD Creator installed on your Windows XP based computer. The drivers for some early versions are incompatible with XP. When you uninstall it some registry settings and files may remain on the computer". I THOUGHT I had REMOVED IT !! So...as I definately dare not touch the Registry, I only ran the first stage of your Resolution which sounded quite safe and that was to do a Search typing in cdr*sys., and then be prepared 'to rename the files Cdr4-2K.sys or Cdralw2k.sys' if found, all as per instructions, But, I found neither file is on my system. I ran this Search 3 times plus again in full, using all letters and numbers.Nothing at all, even in hidden files. As I said, I am STILL today getting the same start up error messages plus the drivers for both my Pioneer DVD-ROM. DVD-116 and the Samsung CD-R/RW SW-212B still remain disabled. I even tried to find updates for these drivers in case this was one of the problems, but ...... 'The Hardware Wizard could not find a better match for your Hardware than the software you currently have installed". According to My Computer Information -Status, I find under the heading of: Obsolete Application and Device Drivers......... 'CD Recording Software. Driver File name cdralw2k.sys.' Yet it's not mentioned in any Search! Is this the DVD-ROM and CD-R-RW or Easy CD Creator? I contacted Pioneer who replied..... "The DVD-ROM product which you have is fully compatible with Windows XP. You do not need to install any other drivers for your drive and it will all work fine with standard Windows drivers as normal DVD-ROM drives. If your operating system is working correctly then all your drives would be able to read disks." In Properties, the Information for both the Pioneer and Samsung products I have is... Driver Version 5.1.2535.0 Drivers Provider...Roxio File Version. 1.00 (1035) Driver date. 1.7.2001 The Device Status for both is... "Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing (Code 39)' The driver files for both ... F:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\Cdralw2k.sys I have run a Belarc Advisor PC Audit since removing the programme. Whereas Easy CD Creator was included in the list of Software after installation it, it was no longer mentioned after I removed it. So,is it still around as various error messages appear to insinuate it is somewhere!! Since Upgrading I also updated Windows Media Player to the latest version via Windows Update. But Windows XP facility to Burn/Write CD's seems not possible for me either. Because of all these difficulties, I checked Windows Media Player for Windows XP and it's original inclusion of parts of Roxio's Easy CD Creator and found.... "The Windows Media Player components of Windows XP have been updated for this release (9 Series) and Media Player for Windows XP no longer uses the older CD-Recording driver. No further action is required from you". Yet, I get..... "Can not complete the CD writing Wizard. This message may occur if the IMAPI CD Burner service is turned off. To resolve this issue make sure the service is running etc." I therefore turned it on. Another idea...... I decided, before buying a new version of Easy CD Creator for Windows XP, to download and try using Ashampoo CD Recording Shareware Programme (compatible with XP) to see if it might jog things into action, but it results in an error.. "Write CD failed" If you can throw some light on this and help me then I will be eternally grateful as this is very worrying for me. I am a beginner to the world of computers so please keep it simple. Someone told me I can enable the dvd/cdrw drives which are disabled, in their Properties, but I dare not do that without your advice. In fact, I dare not do anything without advise. Thank you.