ITunes for Windows will not start

Question

I recently did a complete system restore and as part of my restore, downloaded a up-to-date copy of iTunes and installed it. The problem arises when I try to start the application. I don't get a Windows error message as one might expect. Instead I get the Windows request box asking whether or not I wish to submit the problem to Microsoft. Regardless of which option I chose, the box eventually disappears but no iTunes!!
I've tried uninstalling then reinstalling iTunes as well as clearing all traces of iTunes from my registery/computer files then reinstalling but to no avail. How can I get a clean install of iTunes that will actually run??
Thanks -- Rockey
P.S. Once I get iTunes successfully installed and plug in my iPOD, will all the music on my iPOD be automatically erased?? In my recent restore I did loose all my computer-based music files.
Dell Dimension E310 Windows XP Pro

Answer 1

You might try the method in this article on Trouble Installing iTunes:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93976
Start at: "Important: A majority of customers..."
This should allow you to completely remove the previous installation attemps.
For some reason installing the stand alone Quicktime seems to help in some cases.
iTunes can't work if Quicktime doen't run so it is important to be sure Quicktime is OK first.
Then there is this article on trouble shooting iTunes launch failures:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302856
The other thing is that if you done a complete Windows reinstall back to the factory settings, have you made sure you have the latest drivers and updates?