thanks again fobotcso!
well, notepad and reg edit well and truly back.
i have installed
jv16 powertools and after reading
answersthatwork and
pacs portal i removed real one player. never used it that much anyway. wow, how a whole load of problems have disappeared. i think notepad/regedit went during some system restores done to try and avoid some of these problems.
removed all traces of real one with powertools, and my system stability is better. just when i thought i had got away from it all i popped in my newly accquired Fun Lovin' Criminals 'scooby snacks, the collection' cd, and it's one of them f***** copy protected efforts, installs realplayer back in. doesn't tell you, just says files need updating. anyway it was realplayer 8, which doesn't have all the crapness of the newer version. I will delete it anyway though!
still, a new hard disk, and clean re-install are, i know, soon to come.......