One more idea. Did once get into a panic when I couldn't boot an NT installation after trying out Partition Magic. Rushed out and bought a cheap second HD (£50-60) from PC World. Unplugged the HD containing the precious data and did a clean install on the new HD. Got everything back no problem but did have to reinstall Office. Otherwise, I tend to go with the others. Trash it. But if you're going to trash it anyway, you can't lose anything by experimenting. If you discover a way to do without losing all your Office stuff and downloads, please come back and tell us.
That was the doorbell. My Windows ME Promotional Step-Up has just arrived - really. It was cheap at £35 odd (+VAT) from Jungle.com. I'm going to try to install it over Win 98 (Orig Ed) one of these days. Wish me luck. Another thread here suggested it works well.