And don't get me started on Quicktime and iTunes
EDIT (And I did not read the whole thread to see if somebody else suggested this yet): This just hit me, but have you tried changing the boot order in BIOS when you tried using the recovery discs? One of the F keys will get you into BIOS at startup (Too bad you don't have a Dell, you can access the boot/diagnostics menu without going into BIOS with F2) and you can change what yoru computer boots up from. Usually it should be the hard-drive since thats what Windows is on, but you can set it up to boot from USB or the floppy or optical drives. I don't know enough about compaqs to talk you through it, unfortunately (since every PC manufacturer has different BIOS layouts from the factory). IF somebody else said this then disregard my edit (but not the Apple Sucks rant, I mean that with all my heart)
