Unable to access Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel

[ClydeB1]

Hi there, this thing is driving me crazy. I have been searching all over the net for the past few days and just can not seem to get this solved. There seems to be lots of different bits of advice but none have worked so far. I am uable to access the add remove programs icon in my control panel - click and nothing.

To date I have done the following:
Run sfc /scannow
Tried to access the file from \windows\system32\ (nothing) and from \windows\system32\dllcache - it opens from there but the list of programs is blank
Checked in \windows\system32\ and \dllcache and the appwiz.cpl is there
I have tried to register the cpl via regsvr32 appwiz.cpl and to unregister and replace the file from the original xp disc and have also tried dragging the file to my desktop hoping wfp will replace the file - all without luck.

I have also tried to replace and re-register the file in safe mode and although that worked and I am able to access in safe mode as soon as I go back to normal mode once again no access?

When I try to access the file to do anything to it, it says it is write protected or that access is denied and when I tried to register the file I get the following error - LoadLibrary ("appwiz.cpl") failed - Access denied.

(PS! I also have this problem with the Regional and Language Options icon. All other Control Panel icons appear to work properly.)

Please help....

I am running XP Home Edition with SP3 installed. I use PCTools Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus and I refresh the databases daily and run quick scans daily, with full scans once a week.

 

[Madxgraphics]

What you need to do is go to the command line and run these 3 commands to repair some registry entries.

regsvr32 mshtml.dll

regsvr32 shdocvw.dll -I

regsvr32 shell32.dll -I

Then all should be back to normal

 

[ClydeB1]

Thanks, I forgot to mention that I had also previously tried these entries (amongst the many steps I have tried):

regsvr32 mshtml.dll - I get the following error "mshtml.dll loaded, but DLLRegistryServer entry point was not found. This file cannot be registered". The mshtml.dll file is under the \windows\system32 folder.

regsvr32 shdocvw.dll -I - Succeeded

regsvr32 shell32.dll -I - Succeeded


Then all should be back to normal - Unfortunately all is still the same.

Any other advice? Thanks