Windows XP explorer.exe not starting

So I've been dealing with this problem for most of the day yesterday, and at this point I'm pretty much stumped. I've got a computer that I was doing virus/spyware removal on, and I've got everything cleared out finally. Now when I boot into Windows XP Home Edition none of the icons or the start menu appear. I've checked all the registery keys and and they are correct. When I go to the windows folder and try to start explorer.exe through the task manager it says "Windows cannot find 'C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe" I can browse the windows folder and I see it in there, but every time I try to launch explorer I get the same error. I've tried a repair install, and I've also tried running sfc /scannow after deleting explorer.exe from the windows folder. sfc /scannow puts explorer back in the folder, but it still gets the same error.