IT'S FIXED, THANKS
I have located a reference to this on the Adobe Photoshop 7 web site. Someone else had a similar promblem with PS 7 on Windows XP. The fix is VERY simple. As PS 7 is loading the fonts , filters and other settings, just press CTRL + ALT + SHIFT at the same time and PS 7 "resets" (not my word) itself. The program then started normally. Thanks