So I followed the advice of the elder geek
and I did it his way
sfc /scannow found nothing 'wrong', but I decided to re-install IE6
suffice to say it failed
so now the box is dead in the water [as far as IE6 is concerned anyway]
used CD to try and repair - [I think you're ahead of me now ]
after going through all that it failed to 'see' the license # and now cannot boot
I'm about to re-install the whole OS
here I want to praise the gods who invented IDE cables that allow you to fit MORE THAN ONE HDD

all of my 'bits and pieces' are on the other disc, and so I just have to reinstall, get the updates, [forgot to ghost the image recently [read - ever] get the drivers for the various shite that attaches itself to your PC yatta yatta yatta ..................

I'll NEVER get used to it, but it is a LOT easier nowadays

So, to recap, it wasn't the ClarkConnect box [damn fine piece of S/W] it WAS the nut that holds the mouse