I saw the thread, I haven't read it. I have the rudimentary computer up and running, complete with password protected accounts for all users. I haven't reattached the old drive yet. Maybe tomorrow, maybe I'll wait a couple of days.

Query: If there are programs and their assorted data files on that second (now non-booting disk) along with a registry that is no longer the registry of reference, will my son have to reinstall his game then associate his files with the ones on the old drive to get it to take up from where he left off?

SRS

BTW: Microsoft had 50 updates, some of them very large, that had to download into this computer. They were for XP and for Office. Took an hour or more just for the 70meg of updates before it started installing them.