Well, things went a bit differently that time, but not satisfactorily.

It booted to desktop in the usual 30 seconds or so (I didn't time it) but this time, some applications would run, some just went into the queue to start up after seven minutes and one second.

These are the applications I tried that DID start up:
Excel
MS Word
YouTube Downloader
7-Zip
Control Panel
Run

These are the applications I tried that did NOT start up:
Firefox
Paint.Net
Rosetta Stone (Loaded but quit "Not Responding")
Nero
Garmin Basecamp
Calibre

I'll take the computer back to the shop again tomorrow and see if the tech has any better luck.

I should point out that the repair costs so far have been outrageous! They worked on the computer off and on for two and a half days, got it working (in their shop, at least) and charged me the horrific sum of $150 pesos. That's a little bit over eight US Dollars, or about seven and a half euros.

Cost of living is a little bit less in Mexico.

tanstaafl.