mammaries vertical XP, redo from start

I pulled the plug this morning. Used the IBM Recovery system, which reinstalls WinXP Pro. It appears to be sane so far, but I need to sit down and re-install software, move files back on etc. At which point I'll discover whether it is now condescending to read CDs, which was the tipping point last night on declaring that this is a dead installation, it is no more. When the thing is burning CDs perfectly well, but refuses to read any CD, there is something wrong past the point of it beinf worth trying to track down what is on its tiny silicon mind.

buggerbuggerbugger

I've lost all my Demon email dating from the changeover to this machine. Hiccups when I was transferring stuff over to the new machine meant that I ended up with a second copy of the mailspool, which I somehow forgot to delete. And guess which copy I backed up before reformating the hard drive this morning...

If I owe you a reply from email sent to my Demon address, it's hosed.