[AUCTeX] Can't load AUCTeX 11.86 from ELPA in Windows 7 at Emacs' start time

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I have Emacs 24 installed on Windows 7 and AUCTeX 11.86 from ELPA, via 'M-x 
package-install auctex'.

The environment almost works, I need to set up the paths to (Mik)TeX binaries, 
but I can already  edit and compile *.tex files easily. 

The only problem I seem to have is that I can't load the package in Emacs. 
I could use it in the emacs instance where I installed the package via ELPA 
because, AFAIU, it got loaded after compilation, but not in subsequent 
instances.

If I understand it correctly, I should get "auctex.el" to be loaded at 
initialization time, but neither it nor the file 'preview latex" can be found 
on my disk, in particular not in the ~/.emacs.d directory, where ELPA put the 
AUCTeX directory, or the site-lisp directory inside emacs' installlation 
folder.

for reference:http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/79402/installing-auctex-
on-windows-from-package-install

TIA