techrecovery | help, please

I'm not a computer genious, but it would be really nice if one of you could help me out, since Gateway (I know, bad computer company I've heard) can't seem to help me out since I didn't buy the computer from them. (Another mistake.)

Ok, so I have a Gateway PC with Windows ME on it. Earlier today, my mouse was not working AT ALL. I THINK I have fixed this problem. The main problem is that I shut down my computer earlier today and when I got back, I turned it on to find that it was in safe mode, only I never clicked on anything for it to go into safe mode, but the appearance makes me think that that is the problem. Some things are in black and white, some are in color. The icons on my desktop are large (appearing to fall off the screen. In other words, when I open something that normally would be in the middle of the screen, all I see is the rim of the top of the window, the rest being off the screen entirely becuase it is too large) I didn't click in "Display" for them to be large. I have restarted my computer a number of times and consulted friends and professionals and the same problem continues. Can you help?? Thanks.