applications won't start

Hi Newbie here, but hopefully someone will be kind and knowledgable enough to help me out. None of my applications will start in Windows 7. Here is the history in case it helps:

I recently had an issue with internet explorer redirecting. Everything was normal apart from this. Scans with adaware came back clean except for 12 cookies. Scans with AVG also came back with a broken signature on an adobe air update.

I started to look for instructions on the internet for what to do next and found a site that appeared to be helpful. I started following the instructions and used some kind of web based program (possibly cleaning up the registry) followed by creating a restore point. I cannot remember the name of the program or the web site with the instructions.

When I tried to restart, Windows looked very odd (possibly broken) and all my settings had gone. I then went back to the restore point which restored the appearance of Windows. Windows 7 now looks normal as it did before all of this. Unfortunately none of my applications will now start (including internet explorer). The only application I can get to start is windows explorer.

Please can someone help me figure out what the problem may be.

Thanks

Elwood

Thanks for this. It looks like I have some reading to do! I will report back with how it goes.

Thanks

I have tried the repair install but got stuck. At the point where the instructions said that it would ask me for a product code, it asked for a user name and password (it looks a bit like the windows log in screen but in lower resolution). My usual username and password for windows would not work and I cannot get past this point.

Any ideas how to proceed?

Thanks

Elwood

I installed using an update disk (sent as part of a package when I bought a new computer with Vista already pre-installed just before Windows 7 came out).

The title on the product key label says
"WinVista HmPrem-Win 7 HmPrem UPGMedia OEM Software"

Should I try to do a custom install with this, and if so do I start it in the same way as the repair install?

Thanks

Thanks. I have started to work through that process. When I get to Step 8 I have to choose what partition to install this on. I have two options:

Disk 0 Partition 1:Win_RE (of Type "OEM (Reserved)" , 39gb)
Disk 0 Partition 2:WinVista(C:) (of Type "System", 890gb)

Would you happen to know which to choose?


Thanks again for all your help.

Elwood