How to get back?

[bob]

Yesterday I loaded avast! anitvirus on my PC. When I ran
it, it detected several viruses on my system. I allowed
it to delete the infected files as it couldn't repair
them. When windows started again it would not load any
programs found in the start menu. It would not allow me
to run anthing from the desktop either. It kept showing
the following error message when I clicked on
anything "Windows cannot find 'C:\program
files\xxx\xx.exe' Make sure you typed the name correctly,
and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start
button, then click Search." would pop up. When I ran the
search the file is indeed in the folder. It's as if
Windows can't find them anymore.
I tried repairing the OS by booting from the CD and
running setup, but that didn't help. During the process
it claimed it couldn't find a bunch of files that are in
the WINDOWS folder on the C: drive.
Programs installed after this give the same problem.
Please help if you can.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Try pressing the Windows key and E at the same time. If you can get a Windows Explorer window to open, go to C:\Windows and locate REGEDIT.EXE Right click it and select Rename and rename it to REGEDIT.COM Double click the file you just renamed to open REGEDIT

Then click Start, Run and enter http://www.dougknox.com Go to Win XP Fixes, File Association Fixes, EXE File Association Fix. Download this ZIP file to your hard disk and extract the REG file inside to your Desktop. Go back to REGEDIT and use the File, Import menu to import this REG file.