Big problem with my Windows 2000 Professional..Please help

[edison]

I am having problems with my Win2k Professional (with MS Office 97).

MS-WORD does take a pretty long time to load. But there are no probs with Excel,Access,and powerpoint. MSN Messenger has ceased to function,when u click on that it just gives a message with an exclamation symbol,
"explorer.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows.
You will need to restart the program.
An error log is being created".

I have to install MSN Messenger each time i start the machine. when i install it and works until the machine is shut down. but the next time you start the machine, the ERROR message(as told above) appears and MSN Messenger does not "open".

Also the same window appears before Windows Media Player(Version 7), and Internet Explorer(Version 5) is being loaded. But the program is working fine, only problem is that you have to close the error window {mentioned earlier},
each time the program is loaded.

Another problem is that the Word Files with the .rtf extensions on the desktop appears as if it has "not been associated" with any particular application.
The same is the prob with Adobe Acrobat too...is it some kind of VIRUS ?

I have a small feeling that the follwing clue will help:
when i was working with some MS-Word files, the machine had hun,,and i had selected "End Process" from the Windows Security Dialog Box.The computer prompted that it was not safe to end a process, as that would cause system malfunction.

Is this some kind of Virus or System file Corruption...please help.
awaiting your expert opinion.

[Hpro]

Ok here we go - START > SEARCH > Files or Folders type NORMAL.DOT into the box and when found delete it - don't worry a new one will be created on the nest restart of Winword ... this should cure it..

if it come back then scan for macro viruses...