My Google-Fu, apparently, Is Weak (UPDATED)
I'm seeking help from the community at large here. Last night, I shut off my computer, and let it install updates as it did so. The windows update history lists them as follows:
Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 - May 2009 (KB890830)
Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.57.1329.0)
Both of these were installed 5/14 as I shut down the computer.
Today, 5/15, I turned on the computer, and lo and behold, something has gone horribly wrong. If I try to run any program other than Internet Explorer and the base explorer stuff (Windows Update included), I get this error:
------
[Executable Path]
The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log for more detail.
-----
I went to the "Installed Updates" section of the Programs and Features section of the control panel so that I could roll back those patches, and discovered that apparently, no updates were installed on 5/14, according to that.
Apparently, however, my google-fu is weak, and my searching has turned up very little. Supposedly, it's a DLL error...but all the pages I've found have been limited to one or two programs--not every single program on the computer.
If anyone else can find anything, I'd greatly appreciate it.
EDIT: Changed angle brackets for square to show what was inside them...
FURTHER EDIT:
I managed to discover that WordPad also works at the moment. The file that is broken is x86_microsoft.windows.isolationautomation_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.0.0_none_35d357a66c38ade4.manifest in the C:\Windows\winsxs\ directory; it is supposed to be XML, and instead it's like the old DOS/early Windows INI files...hence, why windows is finding an XML error on line 0 of the file (or so says the event viewer).
In particular, I am running Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit...if anyone out there happens to be running that same type of system and wants to look up that file and post it in a comment...I would be grateful.
Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 - May 2009 (KB890830)
Definition Update for Windows Defender - KB915597 (Definition 1.57.1329.0)
Both of these were installed 5/14 as I shut down the computer.
Today, 5/15, I turned on the computer, and lo and behold, something has gone horribly wrong. If I try to run any program other than Internet Explorer and the base explorer stuff (Windows Update included), I get this error:
------
[Executable Path]
The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log for more detail.
-----
I went to the "Installed Updates" section of the Programs and Features section of the control panel so that I could roll back those patches, and discovered that apparently, no updates were installed on 5/14, according to that.
Apparently, however, my google-fu is weak, and my searching has turned up very little. Supposedly, it's a DLL error...but all the pages I've found have been limited to one or two programs--not every single program on the computer.
If anyone else can find anything, I'd greatly appreciate it.
EDIT: Changed angle brackets for square to show what was inside them...
FURTHER EDIT:
I managed to discover that WordPad also works at the moment. The file that is broken is x86_microsoft.windows.isolationautomation_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.0.0_none_35d357a66c38ade4.manifest in the C:\Windows\winsxs\ directory; it is supposed to be XML, and instead it's like the old DOS/early Windows INI files...hence, why windows is finding an XML error on line 0 of the file (or so says the event viewer).
In particular, I am running Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit...if anyone out there happens to be running that same type of system and wants to look up that file and post it in a comment...I would be grateful.