Windows 7: new to windows 7 and need help

Hello all...I recently bought a new laptop, it's HP dv4-2045dx and it came with Windows 7. As soon as I bought it, I realized it was running slow and after googling, I installed a registry cleaner to help speed things up. It worked.
Next, I deleted all the programs I didn't want and installed Adobe Master Suite CS3 and Microsoft Office 2007. Other than those I also installed skype.
Everything was fine until I ran Windows Update...
All of a sudden my skype doesn't work! It signs on but I can't receive or make calls. Same thing with MSN Messenger, I can't call anyone. I thought maybe it was my webcam so I tried to open the Smart Media Web Cam software, but it did not open.
Next thing I realized is that my external hard drive is plugged in and read by the computer but when i click on the safely remove device icon, my drive is greyed out and there is no way to eject it.
Oh and one more thing, I can't seem to click on files to to open them through MS Office. I have to open MS Office first and then click file --> open, etc.
Any help I can get is greatly appreciated.
I've attached a screen shot picture of my properties under my computer. sorry if i didn't provide enough info...

You should block the Windows product key in the image!

Use system restore to go back to a point prior to the updates. When you get the updates again, install one at a time. When you find the problem update do not install. Your updates must be set to you will update manually and not automatically.

Before installing the updates make sure that you have a system restore point, so when you find the problem update you can go back to the point prior to installation.

Hi -- My first thought is that if the Registry Cleaner is a free one, uninstall it. I have had problems with them messing up more than they help. I would also due a virus scan on it. Try that and see if it does any good and get back with us.

+1 on that. It always seems good up front but later on ... not so.

What's wrong with Windows regular uninstall?

thanks for all the suggestions! i did the system restore and it worked. but i had a question about the registry cleaner. i used regcure, which isn't a free one...but is there something else i should be using? maybe a program to help shut down background programs? thanks again

You can even try MSCONFIG to disable the unwanted backend processes. Check hide all microsoft applications and disable all . Restart the computer and see if there is any difference . ( make sure that you don't disable any wireless devices )

My wife's laptop has exactly the same problem, and its the SAME model, but doesn't have any restore points created yet. Has there been any headway into solving this or will we have to return this piece of crap?

My own custom-built desktop pc has windows 7 pro and does NOT have any of these problems with skype.

We're going to try Skype 4.2 beta to see if it fixes the issue, but if it doesn't I don't know what to do, as it is clearly an HP OEM software issue or an issue related to the difference between home premium and pro in windows 7, and thus is in the background of the OS, something I have little experience in dealing with.

-edit: Found the restore points, going back to stage 1.

This method only disables the Start-up entries, which is fairly pointless if your never going to re-enable them.

If you'd like to delete the start-up entries, CCleaner does a great job with that, and has a built in reg scanner, just picks up the basics.

It's the only Registry cleaner the majority of us trust.

I've had good results in cleaning up new computers using PC Decrapifier. It gets rid of bloatware down to the registry entries, but I haven't yet tried it on a Windows 7 machine... only Vista.