Notepad lost association after installing 'automatic updat..

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers (More info?)

Once the automatic updates were selected by me to be installed, lot of changes were noticed........I had to uninstall and install at least 2 major apps. Two issues still are unresolved,
(1) The NOTEPAD application is not associated with a start exe in the start>programs. It shows a blank unassociated icon and in properties links to C:\WINNT\system32\actmovie.exe. This file again in the folder is 'unassociated'. I also noticed several files in Sys32 folder with 'unliked' icons ...the ones that appear with blue bar on the top.
(2) The plug and play also has stopped working. It no longer triggers once I load an audio or a video disc...

How can I restore the affected part.....or may be diagnose what has gone wrong..

thank you.