I finally got hold of a bootable DOS disk with format. So, I started backing up my hard drive last night and this is my last post before I wipe my drive.
I should be back on line by this evening, the biggest headache will be installing all of the updates after reinstalling Windows. Once that is out of the way, I can take my time over the next week discovering what I have and what I need. When I need something, I'll take the time to install it. That should simplify my Start menu.