Just as a closure to my posts on this subject, eventually I had no options left but to do a clean reinstall of Vista. Lost everything not previously backed up of course, but I guess its not the end of the world. Now have to go through the nausea of downloading and installing SP1 and SP2 and the myriad of associated updates.
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Last edited by Phalconphixer; 28th December 2013 at 22:43.
Reason: Removed part of post... finger trouble leading to a problem of my own making!