Thanks for the input everyone, one thing I didn't mention is that before I moved into my homestay, I was quarantined (swine flu and all) at a hotel for a week. I used my laptop with no problem there with a voltage converter (so that's no issue) and wireless internet, which makes me skeptical of if it could be really be a virus/hacker. Three questions (basically):

1) Is there a way to stop or disable the startup programs from loading, besides msconfig? I can't really run an antivirus scan or anything else since it's so slow and becomes unresponsive before it can do much.

2) What makes it seem like a virus? I have Norton Endpoint (from my school) and Windows Firewall turned on, for what it's worth :/

3) And how can I salvage my computer without reinstalling Windows/reformatting? I can get to a computer repair place here, but if I go in without knowing what's wrong/what needs to be done I'm afraid they'll just wipe the harddrive which wouldn't be good...