Solved Windows Media Center Guide not Downloading

Recently, I've been having multiple problems with my computer that started with Hard Drive crash back around September. I've got the hard drive fixed, but parts of windows was damaged. This post is about Windows Media Center only. Since I hadn't tried WMC since that time, I didn't know it was failing. It will not download the Program Guide.

If I go through the WMC set up options, they just freeze when downloading the guide. If I try to manually download the guide, I get this error:

A critical Windows Media Center process has failed. Please restart the computer and try again. If the problem persists, contact your hardware manufacturer for assistance.

Click to expand...

Other things I've seen in my multiple attempts to get the guide data:

WMC is not listed in the Start Menu at all.
There is no uninstall listed in Programs & Features nor is there a way to turn WMC on or off in Windows Features

Since before the hard drive crash, my cursor disappears in full screen mode. When I move my mouse around, I can see options light up as if I'd moved over them. If I move to just the right place, I am able to click on an option. It is the only way I can exit full-screen mode. The cursor is there, it is just invisible.

I tried renaming the ehome directory and have it recreated, but that failed with the above error. If I go through other setups and at the prompt choose that I don't want to use the guide, WMC crashes.

Is there any way to reinstall Windows Media Center short of reinstalling Windows? I've got too much to lose.

It's been 3 weeks without a single reply so I thought I'd bump it just once to see if someone who can help may give it a second look.

Things I've tried:
Tried to turn the Windows Feature off, but Media Center is not listed in Windows Features.
Tried to locate the MediaCenter Recovery Task in Computer Management, but it doesn't exist.
I've deleted %systemdrive%\programdata\microsoft\ehome\mediacenterdatastore.db and then started Media Center. The setup runs but stalls at Download TV Setup Options.

I'm trying to follow the instructions found here (Windows Experts Community), but I'm having trouble deleting some files because Vista thinks they're in use. I also need to wait to reboot because I have other processes going on (corrupted MFT on external drive - I'm in the middle of a scan at the moment).

In the meantime, I'm hoping someone with an answer sees this.

All these answers. Gee. Anyway, it fixed itself somehow while I was dealing with other life problems.