Hello and welcome back.
Yes, there was a lot of drama a few years back, but we overcame it and ended up better for it in the end. The reader's digest version:
K & E, out of the blue, decided to sell the site to one profit-mongering fellow, Walt, without discussing it with their members, or more importantly, us (her staff), who had been working their virtual backsides off keeping the site running while they had disappeared for months and months on end. In the meantime, we discovered our donations were going to pay their mortgage and not, as they said to us, going toward site fees and server costs. Walt introduced the idea of subscriptions and paying the staff a stipend, and the revolt began. We grabbed everything and ran, leaving Walt with a expensive, empty site, and set up shop here. Now, the site really doesn't have an owner, per se; we (being the site Admins and staff) run the place together, with a couple of us taking a more active position in administering the site and what not.
You'll find this place a lot less laggy and friendlier. Again, welcome back.
Your problem with the disk could be caused by a scratch. If you have a disk repair/cleaning kit, then try it. I don't think they're too expensive, if you don't have one.
If you or your sister-in-law have any questions, don't be afraid to post for help.
Now, just as a note, you'll see I've patched your two posts together. In the future we'd like it if you used the "Edit" button to modify your post and refrain from replying to yourself unless at least 24 hours have passed.