🚀 go-pugleaf

Operating system is XP
I've suddenly developed a problem with Reader 9.1, which has previously worked just fine. Today, I get error messages saying "Adobe Reader has enocuntered a problem and needs to close"

Linking back to Microsoft, I'm told that there is no solution for this problem at this time, but that a newer version of Adobe Reader is available and Adobe recommends updating to the latest version.
I've attempted this, without success, and I've even gone so far as to uninstall Adobe Reader and reinstalled it, again without success, although at one point I did get a different error message, saying that the document could not be printed because no pages had been selected.

In addition, and I don't know if this is related, I've suddenly lost Flash, and again, trying to reinstall this has failed to restore my system.
I've also tried going back a week using system restore, but again without success.

Any techno wizards out there who might be able to shed some light on what's going on, your help would be much appreciated.