All my files lost their program associations (all have generic windows icon) and I can't open anything, even the command prompt. I'm getting a "The file doesn't have a program associated with it . . ." errors. Then after clicking the ok button sometimes I also get, "Access to the specified device, path or file is denied."

I ran disk doctor and antivirus from the emergency disk and found no disk problems or viruses.

Here's what lead up to the problem . . .

Running W2k pro.

Downloaded latest Norton personal firewall software.

Uninstalled current personal firewall software when prompted and rebooted.

Double clicked NPF 2006 installer exe

Downloaded latest windows installer at prompt.

Norton installer quit with "fatal" error.

Any suggestions?

Just wanted to add that I've read and tried several of the suggestions posted in similar threads in the other forums with no success - any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.