[BipolarChucker]

Sounds pretty drastic, you'll have to do what you suggested.

Pull the drive out, bung it in your second machine as slave, tear the files off it and re-install to your primary machine.

It might be worth giving Safe Mode a try but I wouldn't bank on it working, besides, your PC will never feel the same again. Despite all the rants I hear about XP Pro I've had it running on my system now for 18 months and it hasn't BSOD'd me once! (Touch wood!) - Good luck!