Thanks for all the follow up.
The lurgy was completely removed by the three hour (trans-Atlantic) telephone call with the guru and the machine is running super sweet again.
I'll have to get the advice on "slipstreaming" etc. sent to me in words of one syllable. All over my head - needs to be plug and play for me to get it with these darned things.
There's a big sign that pops up in my mind, saying "Here be dragons" whenever anybody mentions the words "regedit" or "msconfig".
LLuggage - I've already ordered the disk thanks (earlier post, Feb 19th).