Computer is sick :O help please?

Does anyone know how to restore files on a comp that are vital to it's ablity to work? It starts fine, I get to the blue Windows XP screen that shows up before the profiles but it stays on that. I have money, I just need to know what to do: buy the xp restore cd or send it to my super smart brother on the other side of the country? I tried safe start, I tried system restore, I have norton 360 but it's been offline for ages. It has 32 viruses but I can't remember all of them. Alot of trodgians, though. But it's been offline. I recently installed Audacity from my flashdrive, but I very much believe it is legit. I ran a defragment and a disk sweep on it and I think that's where it all happened. Just, I know there is alot to ask, and I'm willing to converse about it. I want to fix this comp, I don't want to have to buy a new one. I have money to fix it, not to replace it. I know it can be saved. I just need to either know should I send it from Pensacola Florida to Wenatchee Washington. He will fix for free but my dad doesn't want to pay the postage (which is why i want to pay for it) and he thinks it's a simple fix, that a cd he bought called Mechanic or whatever it is (it a legit windows cd he got from walmart). Right now it's a question of should I send it or learn a lesson and fix it myself?