not a valid Win32 application

I asked when it worked last. Everything worked before they ran inbox repair tool. Now when windows 98 (not SE) starts, I counted 16 beeps. When the desktop comes up all the icons are white rectangles with a blue title bar. Double click any program icon and the message “is not a valid Win32 application.” appears. The first part of each message is the path to the appropriate executable.

If I go into safe mode there are no beeps, the desktop comes up the same way, but the error messages are allthe same.

My guess is that when they ran the inbox repair, several system files were corrupted and the quickest way to fix it is a reinstall.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.