I think the negative side of my relationship with technology is entirely encapsulated by the following:

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<Windows root>system32hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file.”

It would be nice if the fix were that simple. Hopefully, things will be up and running again soon as I mess with my primary computer …

Update: Sigh … all is well, again (after a complete re-installation or two.)