A few weeks ago, MS Paint, Fax, Calculator, Games, and other optional MS programs dissappeared. I have tried to reinstall -- I can see required files (for example, MSPAINT.EX_ in both the C: drive (Under I386) and the D: drive (with the back up disk)), but the installation program says the file is not there.

I have a 2 year old Dell Dimension E510 with Windows XP Media Center Version 2005 reinstallation DVD. I just updated Service Pack 3 from MS.

I have tried to unistall Paint and Fax, but get the same kind of error -- the installer refuses to recognize all those little files for both installation or unistallation.

Any ideas? Some sort of malware?