What is wrong with my computer?

Recently my computer started going loopy first all of my icons disappeared i tried everything i could think of and what i found on various help sites and nothing worked then shortly after that it totally crapped it would not boot to save my life so i reformatted it now it just stops working while im doing something this is actually the second time i have to type this question because it decided to do it before i could post my question its pretty slow and when i powered back on from a restart due to my anti-virus updating it was saying the disks needed to be checked for consistency (whatever that means) if you need more information and can do it send me a personal email it would be easier than using this to communicate because im sure the trouble shooting its going to be a back and forth thing please help me if i had the money for a new computer id get one because this one is just over 2 yrs old. thanks