It is difficult to see if there is any damage or not for sure because the
best way is to compare a clean image of the operating system install for a
configuration like your computer to your current installation.
What you can attempt is an in place upgrade of the operating system that
will fix a lot of problems with the operating system and will require the
you have the install cd and the product key. The advantage of this type of
repair is that it "should" leave your data and applications intact but as
best practice you should always backup any important data such as documents,
spreadsheets, emails, Internet Explorer favorites, email address book, your
user profile under documents and settings folder, etc to a cdrom for safe
keeping just in case something goes wrong at any time which could include a
hard drive failure. The links below explain how to do an in place upgrade
and if you do such it is important that you first install your service pack
which currently is SP4 for Windows 2000 and then go to Windows Updates to
install critical security updates being sure you have a firewall in place to
protract your computer after the upgrade install is complete. In addition to
instructions in the link below you can also simply put the install disk in
the cdrom while you are running Windows as an administrator, start the
installation which may happen automatically if autorun is enabled, and then
be sure to select "upgrade" as the installation type.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q292175
Below is a link that explains how to use secedit to refresh security
settings to default defined levels that may be something that you want to
try first on your computer. You can simply copy and paste the command into
the command prompt window.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;313222
If problems persist and you need to do a fresh install of the operating
system to a formatted drive permissions the links below may help. If you do
such you will need to install service pack, security updates, all your
applications, configure your email/news account if you use Outlook Express,
configure tcp/ip settings if you do not use automatic/DHCP, restore your IE
favorites and email address book, and restore your data from backups for
data that was on the system drive. All this can take quite a while and
usually is a last resort depending on the current performance of the
computer, the level of security that needs to be maintained, and the users
desire to have a "clean" system. By far the MOST important thing to do is to
backup your data and configuration info. A computer and/or operating system
can always be fixed and restored but important data can not and again
preemptive preventative steps need to be taken to prevent further incidents
or you will have to do it all over again. --- Steve
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/indexwin2k.htm
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/windows2000/installoldhdd/index.htm
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/win2k_pro_install.asp