Fleadhman -

You don't give us much to work with. Since you started posting about Oct 2001, and haven't mentioned a new computer, I'd guess you're using Win98 or better(?).

The common reasons for a report of missing or corrupted files at startup are either:
1. a drive going bad.
2. a virus had to be removed by AntiVirus, and it damaged the file.
3. you left the machine on and the cat stepped on the DEL key.
4. power got shut off while the machine was doing its shutdown and was still writing to disk.

You may also get a "file missing or corrupted" if a virus managed to write a request for the file into your Registry, but AV deleted the file it asks for. This won't normally stop Windows from getting started.

Normal procedure would be:

1. Try to boot to Windows Safe Mode. If you can get in there, you may be able to use the Control Panel - Add or Remove Programs - Fix Windows (the name here varies with which Windows) to find and replace missing or corrupted Windows file(s).

2. If you can't boot from the hard drive to Windows Safe Mode, it's possible you may be able to boot to DOS (called Command Mode in later versions of Windows) and replace the missing/damaged file.

IF your hard drive has .CAB files still on it, the missing file(s) can be extracted from them. Windows usually saves them when you install, but they often get lost or deleted. If the .CAB files are not on the hard drive, you'll need installation disks for your Windows version to get the files from.

If the machine won't boot from the hard drive to Safe Mode or to DOS Mode, you'll need a startup disk to get enough things running to make some repairs. If you don't have one, you should be able to make one from your Windows Installation disk(s), possibly by booting from the installation disk or by having someone make you one using your install disks and a working machine.

With Win98, you could sometimes just reinstall Windows on top of the existing installation. This is less likely to be successful with newer Windows versions. When a file is written to the hard drive, it has to go into an open space, or replace a file with the same name, so existing data files shouldn't be damaged. The problem is that the Windows installation won't run unless there's enough "free space" for it to fit in, even though in this case it will mostly replace existing files and won't actually need all that space. If you have an "upgrade" version, deleting too many Windows files to get it to run can prevent it from recognizing that there's a "Windows" already there.

The safest way to save existing files is to move them to some other place. Even with Win98 that can take a lot of floppies, but if you have another partition, drive, or ZIP drive, etc., you could possibly get them off the Windows drive.

Altogether, there are lots of things that can be done, but there are also a lot of "depends on" decisions needed. If you can't find a knowledgeable friend in London, who can "lay hands on" your machine, a service shop might be your best bet.

Copying data files to a CD or two** and reinstalling Windows - if you have the install disk(s)- shouldn't be too expensive, but I don't know what local rates are. With some of the shops in my area, the choice would be to let them save the files and buy a new machine already set up. (If you happen to have a later Win version that lets you use larger partitions, it can take a lot of CDs, and can get very expensive. You might want to just get a new hard drive and have the shop copy your data to it.)

** Since you've mentioned having MD, I'd guess you have a CD ROM at least?

John