"
Buy a new pc & get on with it!"
Strangely enough, despite my detestation of BT / BG / BA / Yahell / Premier football, I have a semblance of an active brain...hence getting Win7..on a new machine ....was one of the reasons I posted the query....better luck next time Para.
My thanks as always for the helpful advice plus different perspectives and experiences.....
Re the IE8 vs Firefox debate, it's my understanding that IE8 pinched the good bits from Firefox so to speak....either way, I'll stick with IE8 unless it all goes horribly wrong of course.