problems with usb devices failing simultaneously

so when, for a while now i've had an intermittent problem with my usp peripherals....usually it would happen when i connect my portable WD harddrive (and yes i am aware that wd has been an issue, but it's not just WD is the problem...even HP thumb drives cause this as well)....or as mentioned even misc usb thumb drives, i'll get a disck disconnect error and then my mouse and keyboard etc go dead....i end up going to the ports to unplug/replug them and GENERALLY, but NOT always, it gets them back up again...but for example right now, i can't get to any of the data on my harddrive or thumbdrives...because they dont stay connected long enough and when they do my mouse and keyboard go dead, and once i reseat the cables, the same thing happens again...so i end up removing the drives...and these are all misc drives....so it's something to do with my compls ports or software ....anyways...most recently it got to where i got an error saying that the appleusbethernetext or something like that wastn' properly installed when i'd reboot...but i have gotten help on how to resolve that already....but my main issue persists...can't connect my drives anymore without killing my mouse and keyboard or it disconnecting itself or both......ideas? suggestions? lay person here, so plse in your responses, assume i know nothing and tell me step by step...."install this" isn't enough...direct links to downloads etc are always superhelpful! thanks in advance!