Postgres 9.2.4 for Windows (Vista) Dell Vostro 400, re-installation failure PLEASE CAN SOMEONE HELP!! (nearly fixed)

Hi Folks (hope I haven't left anyone out)

SUCCESS (ALMOST)!!

>>I've managed to re-install Postgres *without any install errors* and

>>I've managed to login *without any connection errors*

But..I'm not 100% sure how I did it and..

>>I can't access my table data

I think I got Postgres to install properly because of one or more of the
following, after performing a(nother) uninstall:

1) I set the registry Postgres data reference to point to the default
location on the C: drive

2) I made sure that I didn't have anything in the \data folder on the
D: drive, by putting my \data_old well away from my intended data location,
to avoid any 'interference' or confusion by the Postgres during installation

3) I had a problem performing step 2, because I'd just started a
reinstall when I thought (2) was a good idea, so I aborted the installation,
which resulted in a file that just would not move, and so forced me to run
chkdsk. This found the offending orphaned file, but may have fixed something
else??

4) I chose a database password during the install that did not include
any special characters

Having been able to successfully connect to Postgres using both Navicat and
pgAdmin, I then moved my \data_old back to the \9.2 folder on the D: drive,
and modified the registry reference to point to this location..however I
can't see my old tables.

I can change my registry reference to point to D:\..\9.2\data or
D:\..\9.2\data_old without any (apparently) undesirable consequences, but I
just can't see my tables in the system, which makes me think I need to do
more than this. I am unable to rename \data to move all my old files
wholesale into that folder, as Windows won't let me, but if I move \base
which appears to have all the database in it (and is about double the size
in my old dataset), I get the same result, I can't see my tables.

I realise Thomas at least will frown most deeply at these 'operations',
though they often work as a low-tech solution in many programs. Clearly the
best result would be able to pg_dump from my old data and pg_restore it into
my new set up, but it seems I am not able to properly see my old data in the
first place.

>Any ideas please?

Feeling much more at home in the community -and cheered by so many of you
coming to help!

Much thanks

Stephen