msconfig: services won't start

A

asinning

I've been noticing for the past few days that my computer has been very
slow, and then yesterday i started getting some very strange errors
when compiling the Macromedia Director program that I am working on. I
traced the bug to an issue with a font not loading. I reverted back to
an earlier version of my program, and then I rolled back Windows to an
earlier configuration, and the problem persisted. So, I started
turning off items in MS config.

The first thing I was a "diagnostic startup" -- this fixed the problem.

Next I turned off just the services and the start-up items -- the
problem was still fixed.

Then I turned off just the start-up items -- the problem will still
fixed.

Finally, I looked in the start-up items and I noticed something
unusual: An item with a blank name and a blank command. The
"location" is "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run". So, I
switched msconfig back to the default configuration and turned off just
this one "blank" item. The bug was gone.

Problem solved?

No such luck! Now, it seems that the vast majority of my services are
not starting at startup, and cannot be started manually. When I try to
start many of these services, I get a message saying that the Plug and
Play service is not running. When I try to start the Plug and Play
service, I get an error saying that it or another service is not
working.

I guess i screwed something up by turning off the services in the first
place. This is an old habit from my Mac days -- turning off various
extensions until the problem goes away. I'm thinking that the XP
services are quite a bit more fickle.

What to try next?

Thanks!
 

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