I had the problem, too.

My computer just recently had that same problem, and I tried the same techniques you used. Then, my AVG anti-virus program got an update and said that there was a problem on my computer. I healed it and haven't had any problems since. However, at startup, a popup message now appears from contra virus saying "File config.ini doesn't exist. Please reinstall software." If your friend's computer doesn't have AVG, download the free version (that's what I have), and it should help.