The most noticeable thing was that the directory had gone away. On inspection WINNT\\system32\\config\\system and WINNT\\system32\\config\\system.alt had also both gone away as well.
I find the whole thing strange in any event.
Still, toast is toast... the machine is still rebuilding over the network and I'm using a laptop which is murder on my carpal tunnel, so I'm *REALLY* in a mood today.