Ouch! Seems like alot for this annoyance.
jalba- Just to be clear about the KB article:
When you open the key- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
The Userinit entry should read:
Userinit REG_SEZ C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe
AND
The key- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
should list the entry PersistBrowsers as:
PersistBrowsers REG_DWORD 0x00000000 (0)
If no joy, I suggest creating a new Admin level account from the User accounts applet of the Control Panel.
Name it as you like, but make it an Administrator account.
Log off, and log on into the new account.
Please be patient with XP as it configures the new account. It will take a couple of minutes before it is ready to use. If the "My Computer folder does not pop open, and everything seems good with the new account, you can transfer all your data and settings over as explained: support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811151
This is basically a copy and paste exercise ommitting 3 or 4 files. The only trick is that it must be done from an Admin account that is not involved. I usually use the overall ADMINISTATOR account. If you are using XP Home you will need to boot to Safe Mode to access it. There are several ways to get there in Pro, but the easiest is to use Tweak UI to show the ADMINISTRATOR account on the Welcome Screen. (Main left panel after clicking Logon in the left panel.)
I generally wait a few days before deleting the old account to be sure that I have all my data and my settings are all correct.
After deleting the old account, it is possible to rename the new one to the same name as the old if that is important to you.
I find this to be a simple and effective way to resolve many forms of 'goofyness,' and keep an unused Admin account on my system so that I can check 'goofy' behavior there. Many instances of 'goofyness' are only account level deep. A new account can often be the quickest answer.