So I was happily using Itunes for the first time to rip a few CD's since all of my other apps no longer have CDDB access.
After about 4 disks, the computer suddenly doesn't recognize inserting a music CD. I check drivers, uninstall and reinstall hardware. After a few attempts, I begin to suspect an evil record company conspiracy. This would seem like paranoia, except there already was an
evil record company conspiracy, and I was accessing older CDs.
So I found an downloaded the rootkit uninstaller, which did not find any rootkit installed.
Then, I decided to check and see if data disks would work. They didn't. The door closed, the drive light came on briefly, and Windows would not recognize a disk in the drive.
So, after using the troubleshooter, which came up empty, I went with the final option. I opened up the computer, pushed down on the ribbon connectors to both drives and the motherboard, and then took a vacuum hose and gave the motherboard and interior a quick clean.
Rebooted and everything is now ok.
I am now adding a full size vaccuum cleaner to the sledgehammer and crowbar in my computer repair kit.