Ckmoss:
There aren't the tools or supervision available to help you on this forum. You are in the best place for assistance. These are all volunteer forums. Unfortunately you will have to wait until a helper with sufficient experience turns up online to work with you on your machine at Geeks.
Norton Power Erase, like many of the more aggressive tools requires enough computer knowledge to know what to fix and what not to, especially when fix means delete.
I would say that, yes, accidentally loading XP files on a Win 7 has definitely made things worse.
I know it is frustrating, but you will need to be patient. This is not a quick and easy fix.