Well, I'm on the older computer now. I had a crash of the newer one...and of course had nothing on it to see if it was a virus etc... I was able to get it to boot in safemode, but that only accepts passwords, and I don't have a password on that machine (Yes, will write microsoft about that!) It doesn't have a print id for safemode. But after booting it in safemode, it booted normally and I was able to begin restoring it...

well, in a manner of speaking. The service pack 1 for Vista removed all the previous restore points. So my hopes of restoring prior to downloading the pack were dashed. I'm currently restoring to the first checkpoint after the svc pk.
That will take a few more hours... and then I will be able to talk to Mcafee about how to get their product to load.

I suppose Gates has done this so that we won't need norton nor mcafee? I'm all for that, actually. I may get my 14 months still up for McAfee, refunded if nothing else! McAfee didn't call, btw. Just as well at this point.

Grrr. And they are the geniuses on this!