Windows XP Home having big problems

Ok, so lets get to the point. Boot.ini somehow got edited and I changed it back to it's original state, however every program I try to download (and some programs I already have) say "[program name] is not a valid win32 application"
It does this with administrator tools too, even system restore. I don't have a reinstallation disk, although I could get my friend to reinstall it with ubunto.

Can anyone help me out?

 

Have you ran spyware/virus scans recently? If so, try reregistering all dll and ocx files.

To do this, open cmd prompt (Start>>Run, type in "cmd" without the quotes and click OK).

In cmd prompt type in (or copy and paste) the following command:

FOR %a IN (c:\winnt\system32\*.dll,c:\winnt\system32\*.ocx) DO c:\winnt\system32\regsvr32.exe /s %a NOTES

Hit "enter".

Every space, comma and bracket needs to be exactly as shown above.
If your system directory is c:\windows\systems32 then amend accordingly.
It takes perhaps half a second to register each file so it will probably take several minutes to complete and you'll then have to reboot for the changes to take effect.

Hope this helps.

 

Well, all it said was "more?" and it didn't fix the problem.

 

Try running sfc /scannow.

Start>>Run

In Run type sfc /scannow, click OK.

 

It said it wasn't a valid win32 application.

 

Can you click START, then RUN, then type in: cmd (press enter).

At the c:\windows\system32\> prompt type in: sfc (press enter).

Does it give a result, or does it error on you?

 

Ok, I did so and did sfc /scannow in cmd prompt. It said before the scan even got close to completing "Files that are required for Windows to run properly must be copied to the DLL Cache. Insert your Windows XP Home Edition CD-ROM now."

 

Never mind, your instructions fixed the problem

 

Wow, first time I've seen that sfc fixed a problem.

 

Ok, scratch that.. it's back to invalid win32 applications again..
I think it might be my system32 folder, does anyone have a copy of a windows XP home one?