Some additional information on my problem:
I did a complete uninstall of postgres 8.4, removed the user, cleaned registry entries, deleted folders, etc, then reinstalled (for the third time). I am now having an additional problem - when I start the postgres service I get the message "server started and stopped'. I had this problem after the initial installation but it seemed to go away for a few days. The log entries look the same as in my first email. There is a bug report in the bugs mailing list with this symptom (#4175) from 2008, but I find no responses and no place to track it.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Terry S. in AZ