Well, something worked! I checked the link, read the postings, and as I was trying to sort out which piece of advice to attempt, I saw the offer at the bottom to do a Vista Check. I downloaded the app. and ran it. It found 624 things that should be fixed. I cliked on the GO button. It did its number but then informed me that with the free download you can only fix 15. I figured this was 15 each time you ran the scan. Nope. It's was 15 only. Ever. Unless you buy the program. I left, went to Control Panel and uninstalled it.
However; I opened OFF and, on a whim, cliked Multi-Player. It took me out to the field [with the two medals on the left]. I did not see the Error Message, but I did see the blue dial. Cool. So, I backed out of there and did a bit of QC. When I got back to the desktop, I tried the CFS3MP icon. Again, it took me out to the field. Blue dial, no Error Message. So it looks like Multi-Player is now an option for me. And just doing the mini-scam may well have shaken things loose.
Thanks for the help.