semmie17 sent the whole thing into a failure-to-start-up loop. shut off the power and then started up with the original installation CD in the CD-drive and found that the dear little thing has a system restore feature that reinstalled XP without losing any of my stuff (all my data files, pictures, etc. are still here!). :-)The computer is running VEEEEERRRRRY slowly and I'll have to download a ton of updates to get Windows up to speed, I can't get Outlook launched at all (yet), and I lack the "start" button and desktop toolbar that should be across the bottom of my screen, but at least the thing isn't completely toasted. Bit by bit I'll get there (and all suggestions/help still VERY much appreciated)
EDIT: Managed to retrieve the desktop start button and taskbar, which makes life MUCH simpler. Think I'm still gonna end up taking the critter to the e-doctor ... it's resisting letting me connect with Windows update and I can't uninstall the remains of McAfee (although I have killed some of its functions in the startup, which is speeding things up a wee bit). Shall keep you all posted ... thanks for the support! :-)
