It would also be interesting to know the spec of the machine and what else is running on it.

Well, I can launch now, and am rebuilding my setup before I can test for the other (distortion) problems. THANKS TO ALL. However, as far as finding the elusive "ini" file, I've tried everything above & it's still a mystery. Here's my path: (hidden files & folders set to show) C drive - Documents & Setting - "my name" folder - Applications Data - Reaper - and that's it. No "ini" file. There's nine "configuration settings" files (one of which only says "REAPER" on the left, and is the one I dumped / I am calling the main config file) one "RK" file and three sub-folders. ================ It seems to me that what you guys see as an "ini" file is what I see as the "main" Reaper config file. Could this not be so? When I dump that file, Reaper launches, so it definitely clears the specific problem I am posting about here. It also dumps all Reaper settings, AND al my authorizations. So, it sounds like it's the ini file, but with a different name. It is in the Application Data folder. Also: Why am I losing my auths? !!! I thought those were tied to the computer, not the DAW. Is there any way to dump my Reaper setup, WITHOUT losing auths? - or is it in fact likely that a corrupted suth is causing my launching problem?

re: Becoming a PC expert.