Hot Scroller

No, its still there but all I can see is the 'News Highlights' box.

Yes I checked now it actually works but it scrolls empty text, check your content settings in module config.

Hot Scoller still does not work. Had it partially working on one category only but the date was black!
Do I need to purchase the module again and reinstall?

I removed it because it stopped working and make the site look messy. If I could get it to work - great!

Is the single download any different from the bundled version if I purchase it?

No just make sure that if you select content source to be content category you put correct category ID or if you select articles then put correct comma separated IDs of articles. For correct IDs you can check category and article manager last column are IDs