Good news – managed to sort the problem by running the XP repair console that put back a few files which I assume were missing; and didn’t lose any data either. At one point I thought I was going to have to format the drive, so backed up just in case.
Rustle – a good tip there, as the administrative tools folder was empty, I was wondering how to start the print spooler – as it happened, it wouldn’t start anyway – hence using the repair console.
Thanks to you all for your input – my credibility is still intact and colleague is well chuffed