Vista - Side by Side Configuration is Incorrect...For every program!

Hello,
I've been site hopping various Vista forums looking for a solution to my issue,
and...
I'm hoping you guys would know a thing or two here
=)

My problem is this:
I am running Windows Vista 64 bit on an ASUS laptop and, after some "experimenting" with binding EXE's on XP and moving them over to Vista,
I started receiving the dreaded error message "This program has failed to start because it's side by side configuration is incorrect". Now, I'm no noob when it comes to computers...
But I have tried everything I can think of to resolve this problem.
THe most common solution I have found is to install the Visual C++ Redistributable, thing is...
When I run the installation EXE, the same error appears.
I have attempted running in safe mode, system restore, and all the usual options, and every thread with this same problem is often ignored, therefore I have not been able to find a solution.

Can ANYONE here please help me?
My father needs this laptop for his work...
and it has been out of commission for almost a week now,
so any help short of a repair installation would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

*This is copy/paste from another thread I have going on another site* [although the other site has been very helpful, we haven't gotten anywhere...]


Program to merge files- EXEJoiner
Files merged- VLC media player setup and IMGburn setup

They were merged on my 32-bit XP Pro system and transfered over to my 64-bit Vista Home Premium system.

I executed the merged file,
and it failed to start giving me an error message about being incompatible with my system.
I figured no big, deleted the file, and carried on.

After restarting my computer shortly afterward,
I attempted to run Firefox, but it gave me the error message:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe

The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log for more detail"

Checking the Event Viewer, I have a boatload of "Side by Side" errors, each with an Event ID of 59.

The error reads: "Activation context generation failed for "C:\Windows\sysWOW64\TAPI32.dll", error in manifest or policy file "C:\Windows\Winsxs\manifests\x86_Microsoft.windows.c..-controls.resources_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.6001.18000_en-us_72e6f33f34dfabb9.manifest" [Whew!] on line 0. Invalid XML syntax.


Does ANYone have ANY idea on ANY possible fixes, short of a re-install?
Any and all help would be greatly, greatly appreciated!

DarkLord1020 wrote:
There's your problem right there. Why you felt this was A Good Thing to do
is beyond me but it really doesn't matter.
This would seem an inaccurate assessment. Or perhaps you've been using
computers for a long time without really understanding what you are doing.
And you messed around with your father's laptop? You won't like my answer,
but you should own up to your father what you did so he can take the
machine to his office's IT Dept. and get it backed up and restored. If his
office doesn't have an IT Dept., your father should take his laptop to a
competent local computer tech (not a BigComputerStore/GeekSquad type of
place) who will retrieve any data that wasn't backed up and restore the
machine to factory condition. You irrevocably ruined the Windows
installation and it needs to be redone completely.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

In message <05d2c9dd4a5bee4cbdb94cbb7872a408@xxxxxx-gateway.com>
DarkLord1020 <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> was claimed to have wrote:
I'd start with restoring a backup from before you started making
changes...

Dave Warren <dave-usenet@xxxxxx> wrote:
Backup? What's THAT?

Oh yeah, that's the thing folks think of doing AFTER a situation
arises when they could have used it.

On Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:07:33 -0500, DarkLord1020
<guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote:
One easy answer is the way the two harddrives are formatted. If the
drive on the XP machine is fat32 and the Vista machine NTFS then you
will see what you are seeing. You are also talking 32 bit XP and 64
bit Vista, why would you expect them to be identical? I say stop what
you are doing and do some more research, this is probably normal and
you are making a mountain out of a molehill. If the 32 bit files were
EXACTLY the same as the 64 bit files, why have 2 versions? If you try
to download almost anything it asks 32 bit or 64 bit, xp or vista,
windows or linux, etc etc!