XP IE and Outlook issues! Please help?

[big mick000]

Hi all. The situation is this: My grandparents have a P4 PC running XP Home. Their Grandkidlets have put on MSN messenger, and they got sick of it, and decided to get rid of it. Apparently, they went into Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Click on Messnger > Remove Program. It was removed, and now, when they try to use IE and/or Outlook Express a window pops up. From the description, it sounds like the IE Options/Settings/Preferences window. No matter what they click, it can't be opened. That same goes for Outlook and one of the Bridge programs that gran has on there. I have Firefox 3 on my flash drive, and that works, as does the copy of Firefox 2 that was on their computer, so they're still on the internet, but, the emails are crucial. Some not-yet-backed-up family photos, etc. Anyone have any ideas, or fixes?

Any and all help appreciated very much. TIA, Mick.

[rob916]

System restore is always a good start.

[Philquad]

ie and oe-x are part of add\remove as said.
try C:\Program Files\Outlook Express .exe 1st
see if it works
otherwize
try show hidden files, c\doc & settings\username?\locoal settings\application data\identities\(weird numbers)\microsoft\outlook express
backup this folder.
use add\remove to restore ie & oe-x
get ie7 or ie8 download from firefox if needed.

[BCNZ]

When you've sorted it, find a cheap computer for the kids to use, so they leave granny's computer alone.

I'm a big advocate of this. Second-hand PCs are easily affordable these days and when you look at how much it costs to have an IT person come and sort out a machine that the kids have stuffed up, it makes economic sense.

Kids unfortunately don't have a lot of concern for important things on computers such as emails, photos and documents. If there's a game they want to play or to chat with their friends, they'll push any and all buttons in an attempt to make it happen. This of course is fraught with danger.