Win XP Service "Automatic Updates" Missing

[Alan]

Running Win XP Home SP1:

I had to restore my brother-in-laws computer that had been
hijacked and infested with a variety of trojans, malware and
spyware. The PC is now back to normal other than one problem.
When I ran Windows Updates I got an error regarding certain
services not being available: BITS and Automatic Updates.
When I opened the services menu I was able to turn on BITS but
Automatic Updates produces an error:

Unable to open service automatic updates for read only on local
computer. Error 183: can not create a file when the file already
exists.

The service is listed but there is no description, no status, no
startup type, etc.

Any ideas?

 

[Alan]

Running Win XP Home SP1:

I had to restore my brother-in-laws computer that had been hijacked and
infested with a variety of trojans, malware and spyware. The PC is now
back to normal other than one problem. When I ran Windows Updates I got
an error regarding certain services not being available: BITS and
Automatic Updates.
When I opened the services menu I was able to turn on BITS but Automatic
Updates produces an error:

Unable to open service automatic updates for read only on local
computer. Error 183: can not create a file when the file already exists.

The service is listed but there is no description, no status, no startup
type, etc.

Any ideas?

I should have added that I did run sfc /scannow. The computer
does have the recovery console installed. It is a Compaq with an
OEM XP install (recovery disk).