I downloaded and installed the latest security update. After installation the update completely messed up my computer. According to Gateway, something happened during the installation and it messed up my registry. They suggested to do a Windows repair. My suggestion is to back everything up, wipe everything clean and buy a full version of XP and reinstall. Even though this is my suggestion, if there IS another solution I would like to know. Is there anyway of repairing the registry? I have done a restore and nothing has changed. Any help with this matter would be greaty appreciatted.

You have several options before you reinstall XP, uninstall the update, use your XP CD to do a repair or try a system restore to a restore point before the update.

Which update did you install? What problems has it caused exactly?

etan7501: Along the with suggestions above, you can also reboot in Safe Mode and try Last Good Configuration. Solarian

All I remember is that it was some sort of security update and it was one file. Problems it caused: 1. After the computer restarted: Icons re-arranged. Home page was changed in IE. 2. Then printer all of a sudden wasnt communicating and I had to reinstall- and something kept on changing my default. 3. Taskbar shortcuts had been removed. 4. Unable to change desktop background to any image. Only color. And I have tried with numerous images. At one point, I was able to get an image for a background, change to the printer that I wanted etc. but when I restarted my computer, I had to reset everything. Image gone on the desktop, and I havnt been able to change it again. Well, I hope that makes since, at least to a point. I am clueless on how to fix this except for reloading Windows and with the possible tips above. Thanks for all the interest from everybody.