hmm no luck so far, i tried sfc /scannow but it made no difference. the helpctr.exe file IS there, and on running it appears in task-manager but then just dissapears again.
Also tried the reg-fix on the link you gave but it didn't work...
Just noticed THIS folder is empty, could this be the prob:
C:\windows\pchealth\helpctr\HelpFiles
Here's the contents of my helpctr folder anyway, anything missing?:
C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\msinfo.dll C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\pchshell.dll C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\pchsvc.dll C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\hscmui.cab C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\hscsp_w3.cab C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\pchdt_w3.cab C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\HelpCtr.exe C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\HelpHost.exe C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\helpsvc.exe C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\hscupd.exe C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\msconfig.exe C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\notiflag.exe C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\brpinfo.dll C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\HCAppRes.dll
cheers!
b