Kate
There are a few things that come "preset" from the factory ... sometimes there are "fixes or patches" available for these things that do not always come up as a "critical update" or even an update.
I would
type the exact error that you are receiving
into the HP site and see if any information comes from that, as well do the
same on the microsoft site ..
Here is an article you can read that will tell you how you can fix your situation if it is what I am thinking you are referring to.
Without the exact error message, it is hard to tell ...
You might also
do a google search with your "exact error message" you are receiving, or post it here and we can further look into it.
A few weeks ago I experienced;
"The system dll user 32.dll was relocated in memory .... blah blah blah" and on further searching of what I have offered to you above I found I needed to download a fix.
Information on these types of problems, as well as drivers, etc., doesn't come easy to us, unfortunately. We must seek, find and remedy ourselves. Cruel World Eh!
Good Luck, it sounds like you have a nice new computer to work with.
P.S.
Kate, just go into your add & remove programs and remove all of those things that come preloaded with the computer, don't install the trials and definitely get rid of, before you even think of installing it,
get rid of Wild Tangent Web Driver ... also pre-installed, I don't like it's behaviour, what I read about it, nor it is not necessary ... These things are merely sitting there and not taking up your space unless you have fully installed them ...
I think your problems are resolvable ...