Receiving Error when clicking on properties

[Assassin]

I had been infected with mr. Msblast...I patched and used the symantec tool to clean everything out. However, when I right click properties on ANYTHING I receive an error:
Reg open Key Ex: The handle is invalid ...also, I have two mp3 files (these were downloaded from my own cd collection) that will not play in my media player--much less I cannot delete them!!! When I go into properties in my c drive to perform "Disk Cleanup" there is supposed to be a window that pops up showing the calculations of the cleaning of c drive....my window pops up and just sits there...I was going to do a system restore but the only point that is available is august 13 ..todays date... all my restore points were deleted (I am to believe) when I had to clean up Msblast....So here I am with two mp3 files I cannot delete (nor drag to the recycle bin) as well as receiving an error everytime I right click properties on anything and my scan disk pop up is useless.......any ideas to resolve my situation?? Reformat????

 

[Assassin]

I don't want to sound like the dumb one--I have never reformatted before..what does it encompass?? Will I loose all saved data on my c drive??? I am treading into new waters (obviously).

 

[Apokalipse]

it will wipe everything, just make sure you have all the drivers you need first, and that you know how to install your OS and everything.

to reformat you can just pop in your windows install CD on boot and it will (should) have the option at the start - and my suggestion is if you format, format to FAT32 file system

 

[devlish96]

reformatting erases everything,..so have your files backed up. make sure you have the necessary drivers for your system.

whats your OS?

reformat and install the os,..install antivirus, etc...do the necessary updates before you put back you old files.

 

[Assassin]

I believe re formating might be a little extreme after carefully analyzing the situation....When I click on properties I receive an "RegOpenKeyEx:Handle is invalid" error...I have been on Microsoft's tech page but with the potpourri of items available I did not see anything relevant to my situation...However, wouldn't it be easier to create the key that is missing...Or am I reading the error message wrong?? Let me put it in a better way....when I receive the error what exactly does it imply when it states "The Handle Is Invalid"....if I could determine the problem it might be worth going into the registry to fix it...FYI I am operating Windows XP--another Bill Gate piece of cheese---full of holes!!!
I just don't see reformating my whole computer as a solution to my problem...only as a last resort...seems overkill to me.......any thoughts as to the regopenkey error???

 

[Apokalipse]

hey there's nothng wrong with XP, except for Bill Gates