I have an XP Recovery CD from which I have occastionally had to use to run WinRescue to get my machine to boot. Will that work with the WinRescue 7 backups to get my Win 7 machine on its feet, too?
Yes, it should work. You cannot create the CD in Windows 7 (it must be created in XP) but it can be used to restore the registry in Windows 7. It should not be used in Windows 7 64bit.