I made a big decision. I like Win 7 enough that I've bought a new HD for the laptop and plan to install it on there. I'm keeping the old one "as is" in case any of the ThinkPad special stuff isn't catered for, and I need to go back to XP Pro.
The old one goes in a caddy, so that I can copy stuff off it to the new one. Might be a busy day or two!