Starting to look like some of the files have been corrupted, following the next step may cause you to have a bunch of updates to download.
Click \start\run\then type in or copy and paste in
sfc /scannow note the space between c and /
You must be logged on as a member of the Administrators group to run sfc.
If sfc discovers that a protected file has been overwritten, it retrieves the correct version of the file from the
%systemroot%\system32\dllcache folder, and then replaces the incorrect file.
i can't log in as an administrator: it's a district issued laptop; there's password that i do not have. any more ideas? thanks again for all your hard work and problem solving!