The Laptop Lives! A Bit.

Turns out my laptop was only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead, you know. My fiance booted the machine from a Linux CD, and afterwards Vista agreed to start again. So the machine is working for the moment.

As I type, my fiance is backing up my data, wiping the hard drive, and installing Linux. Be gone, foul Vista, that my computer might limp along for a few more months until I've got enough money for a replacement.

My previous laptop died with a visible physical scratch down the centre of the hard disc surface, and was able to carry on after a fashion running Linux. So I'm hopeful.