Computer freezes, broken System Restore

[broken laptop]

Windows Vista Basic
Toshiba Satellite L355

For a few months now, my computer would freeze up while using iTunes. When I tried ctrl-alt-del to open the Task Manager, I would get a black screen with a box, Logon process has failed to create the security options dialogue. Initially, I thought it was a CPU issue (iTunes freezing up, not the ctrl-alt-del). Each time, I ended up needing to manually restart my computer. It recently began to happen more often, so just in case it was iTunes I began to use Windows Media Player. I didn't have any issues after this, so today I decided to uninstall iTunes - and any other Apple Inc. product installed. Then I thought what the heck, I might as well delete programs from "Program Files" that I don't use anymore, as well as some folders labeled "Temp" in system32.

After (safely) restarting my computer, I noticed it was running unusually slow. Then everything began to freeze up - the animation on icons, then the start menu - everything except the mouse, that was still able to move. I had to manually restart it, and it happened again. I am now running it in safe mode, and - of the things available in safe mode - everything works well. I attempted a System Restore, and got Catastrophic Failure 0x8000ffff as a result. I went into the recycle bin and restored all of the files I deleted prior to this issue, and still have the same results. I ran sfc/scannow, and all that I got from that is "settings.ini" for the Windows Sidebar was corrupt. But, I am not too sure how to read all that, so I may be mistaken. If anyone has any tips on helping resolve this, I would greatly appreciate your input.

Thanks,
Jack

 

[berry120]

First off, don't just delete random folders (in program files or anywhere!) that you don't think you need - it's likely to do much more harm than good! If you decide you want to get rid of software, go through add/remove programs and uninstall it that way.

With the state your computer is in at the moment, I'd honestly recommend backing up what you need, wiping it and then reinstalling everything - trying to restore things manually when it's in that state just isn't worth it (and might not even be feasibly possible.)