I just turned on my system one morning to find out that I can not run ANYTHING on it. Win Xp (pro) boots but I cant start any executables or rundll32 associated files (most control panel items). That means I cant even put the win xp cd in and start a clean install because it doesnt even let me! System restore wouldnt start either... I've spent a cuple of hours trying to figure this out, but unlike anything i've ever encountered this is tottaly weird and seems like a dead end. anyone? help!

Have you tried to boot to safe mode and enter the "administrator" profile and try to run the restore?

To me it sounds like its a virus or worm that you have. Ive seen a virus (cant remember the name right now) that does a very similar thing. What it does is that it changes the "exe" definition in the registry key to point to the virus so it can reproduce itself. Therefore everytime that you try to start an "exe" file....it does nothing but reproduce the virus. The crappy part about it was that my friends computer that had it even affected the antivirus and it was useless to eliminate it but it did identify it. Best thing to do is run a virus scan to see if it is a virus. (or trojan horse) if you can identify it....get the name and buy your best friend some lunch and ask them nicely to let you use their computer for a while and go to symantec's or any antivirus website of your choice and look for a fix. Most of the time itll be a self that is a "com" file instead of "exe" that will fix your problem