XP hangs up on "loading personal settings"

It is not our intention to offend anyone and if you feel offended by my last post then I naturally apologise.

However problem solving at distance relies totally on two way traffic - the thread starter responding to the questions asked with the correct information and taking the actions suggested and reporting back. Only then can we make meaningful progress. It is important to realise that for many issues there is no instant fix.

If you feel that you can find better help elsewhere that is your prerogative, but I do not feel that my time on this thread has been wasted. I wish you luck in recovering the laptop.

I am closing this thread as clearly it is going nowhere now.