For #groff - Tascii - man yakub: Thanks so much for the info regarding the xp internal commands (about which I knew nothing). I'll check into this right away.
For patio: I'm retired, with no formal education or training in computers, but I do quite a bit of work on computers for friends and neighbors, etc. Frequently, I conclude that certain computers are so cluttered with unnecessary and possibly harmful software applications, to reformat and reinstall xp would require less time and effort, and be more likely to lead to a more stable system. This is the primary reason for my inquiry. I know little about repair/recovery of upgraded xp installations. I have a repair/recovery disk for Vista, which I consider to be a very valuable tool, and I was casting around for a similar tool for xp. Last night, I downloaded and burned Hiren's BootCD Version 9.5, which may turn out to be of use for xp recovery/repair. Perhaps some forum participants can furnish opinions regarding Hiren's BootCD.