Kaktussoft-
I did have an old Dutch friend (Prof. Dirk Struik, a world famous mathematician, google him!) who passed away a few years ago at 106 - who told me to seek out spek & stroop and rijstafel when there. We later spent a few days in Utrecht at a software trade show in the '80s. Toured around in spare time. Loved Haarlem and its museum with the giant electrical machine from the 18th century. Sorry to others reading, this is all off subject - visit Holland, you won't regret it! Back on subject, your tips got me past zero, but as I suspected there are other things wrong. I can get into windows, but reboots are unstable, often resulting in stopping at the mouse arrow with a black screen. I think we are in virus territory. Client has a pre-teen daughter who may have downloaded and clicked on anything that struck her as colorful. Maybe a discipline problem rather than a computer problem. Hope I am not expelled from the forum for being so off-topic, but it is the weekend - tools down!