Windows 7 registry .exe broken & inaccessable

Question

I have attempted to fix .exe problems that started a few days ago on my Windows 7 HP laptop. First Steam, then AMD display programs, video players, then more programs. No viruses or malware found. I tried a fix using regedit (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2688326) but the registry is now completely broken and will not start any third party .exe, including startup programs, other than Foxfire and some web plug-ins it seems (ex: Youtube works).

I cannot access regedit, cmd, or other Windows utilities either, just Windows Explorer. I thought I could find a clean default registry file/s to install to fix the issue that I have only made worse but I only find more advise using utilities I can no longer access.

Short of reinstalling Windows, is there a solution. Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

Easy to do once I found the right webpage with the files: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html

^A system restore or reinstall would be way too much considering how easy it is to fix with the right file. Fixed for now but my PC still has some issues but it is old and used for may applications. Hopefully this post will help others (even myself!) in the future.