Melissa, thanks heaps for your kind message. Although I have been a PC support tech for over 25 years, I am new to this forum, gradually figuring out how things work here, so this has been a good learning experience. For example, I had forgotten how something like that Microsoft C++ download could be troublesome for a user unfamiliar with such things. And I now know better than to suggest something fairly serious like that just before hitting the sack, when I should remain online for any follow up questions or concerns. Anyway, I'm heading over to your other post to see how this thing turned out. BTW you're not silly at ALL -- like anyone you just want your system to work right and it can be very upsetting when things go haywire.