Trying to restore IE8 back to normal

[gckaibab]

The system is Windows XP Home with Service Pack 3.

Here is my problem: (I think I have it somewhat figured out)

I uninstalled HP MarketResearch program with RevoUninstaller with it set to Advanced uninstall (It cleans the registry of the program and also deletes leftover files).

I go to launch IE8 and it immediately crashes or freezes (Not Responding). I do not get any Error Report Message popping up. I have tried resetting IE and also "reinstalling" (re-running the install program) IE8. Also Live Messenger (the most recent version) will not sign in at all (it won't go past the sign-in dialog). If I uninstall back to IE6, IE works just fine. I am thinking that RevoUninstaller may have deleted some needed files (I am just kinda hoping not). I have even tried to reinstall service pack 3 (with no luck). Any advice?

Edited November 15, 2009 by gckaibab

[DigeratiPrime]

Use a System Restore point? Discontinue using register cleaners. Use another modern browser temporarily e.g. Firefox or Chrome.

[gckaibab]

The system restore was disabled at the time.

Edited November 15, 2009 by gckaibab

[cluberti]

Well, service pack 3 doesn't contain any IE8 files, so reinstalling it won't do any good. Also, if you've uninstalled IE8 and IE6 works fine, does a reinstall of IE8 after uninstalling back to IE6 and rebooting resolve it? Otherwise, it sounds like wininet is screwed up on the machine and it would take some debugging to figure out (WLM uses wininet for connection handling, hence why I think Revo probably screwed up a reg entry that wininet requires for proper operation under IE8).

[gckaibab]

Well, service pack 3 doesn't contain any IE8 files...

I was hoping that SP3 would "restore" any registry keys/files that may have gotten deleted. unfortunately reinstalling IE8/IE7 on does not resolve the problem

Edited November 19, 2009 by gckaibab

[cluberti]

Well, it would if you were running IE6. However, as stated, XPSP3 doesn't contain *anything* about IE7 or IE8, therefore it can't fix something it doesn't know about.

[Guest sinytt]

yes, i uninstall ie8, too. still feel ie6 better