i don't know what happened, but the second time i ran the program almost everything seems to be working fine. some of the icons that were missing from the tray are back, folders are loading faster.
And after the registry repairs, the ccleaner reported one activex issue : inproserver32\c:\windows system32\wuaucpl..cpl
I didn't fix it. i will take my cues from you.
i noticed that the volume controller icon on the task bar has vanished although i can control the volume using the special function keys as the media keys. I appreciate it if you can let me know how to fix it
I guess the reason for everything going well is:
on first try : I had chosen every option for repair except the windows update repair option
On second try: I chose the default highlighted repair options, although again i disabled the windows update repair option.
so i am assuming the problem must lie in the options i left out, especially the one which said 'reset file permissions' .
Conclusion: I don't have to restore my sys to before registry repairs