Well, that didn't work. More details: XP Pro, no other OS. Full MS Office, some sim games, large music library. Administrator and Steve are in two groups: Administrators and Backup Operators. I can freely access both users. Neither user able to access restore wizzard, apparent rights problem. Tried work-around of removing, then giving back rights; no effect. Tried a few other fixes billed as fixing related problems, didn't work. I have some processes set at manual, a few disabled, thru services.msc, but don't think the problem is there. Note on my background: non-recent sysadmin, started up several PC networks, but little post-97 Windows experience (got in more technical area). Doubt I have bugs: McAfee scan regularly, firewalled and often locked down, incoming scan, IM blocked, several sleeper services manually stopped (but tried with them on also, same result). Services console and management console were not much help.

Losing concentration, so I'll shut down for evening, resume after client meetings tomorrow. Maybe a bright idea will come.
Steve