Thanks for the tips and info guys - I'm afraid I have to report that last night the whole PC crapped out on me.
I uninstalled a program called "zSearch" and rebooted. Later in the evening, while doing other stuff, the system restarted without warning. When it restarted, the system would suddenly let me select a login profile (ie, I only have one) and when I click it, I get a desktop wallpaper, but no taskbar or icons. Normally WinXP just boots straight to my desktop, without prompting for a User Selection. After about 4 seconds, it logs me off and back to the "Select User" screen.
I figured maybe WinXP was burping, so I shut down for about 20 mins. I came back and when I restarted, it was still doing the same thing. I put my WinXP CD in, changed the boot order in the BIOS and rebooted off the CD, hoping to recover/repair or re-install my Windows system. However, it just kept logging me off after showing me my blank desktop.
It's scary to think about the sheer volume of stuff I might have lost here. MP3s, tons of videos and JPEGs, not to mention holiday & family photos.
My plan is to get another HDD and re-install a fresh WinXP system and then re-connect the dud drive and try to copy everything across. I'm officially giving up on Norton Anti-Virus. Their Online-Updates obviously aren't worth two gobs of billy-goat ***** and their Tech Support charges (ahem) $4.95/minute.
Can anyone tell me if my PC is completely FUBAR or can I ressurect my stuff??
