Major Finder Issues (Also Quicktime, Itunes, Spotlight not working)- Please

Question

I have a lot of problems, but I posted in this forum b/c I'm figuring if I can get the finder back I may be able to resolve the other issues.
Here is the situation. I'm running OSX Tiger on a Core2Duo Mac. A few days ago I did a mac upgrade that upgraded Quicktime. Unfortunately, that caused Quicktime to stop streaming a site I use for school. I was getting video but no sound. Quicktime streamed other sites just fine. I came to this website and saw others having this problem. Don't remember exactly what thread I read, but a few threads convinced me that I could uninstall Quicktime and get the old version which had worked for me. I dl'ed Tinker Tool to erase all files with the name quicktime in them (simply dragging Quicktime to the trashbin proved fruitless), including those in the system folder. When I tried to remove the trash it said some quicktime files were in use. So I restarted the comp to kill whatever background programs could have been running. When it restarts, I have no finder. The trash is still full, but I can't delete anything. I can't activate anything in the dock. I click on the icons and they just jump around. All my desktop items are missing. I couldn't even get online b/c firefox wouldn't activate and I don't keep Safari in the dock b/c I prefer Firefox.
I ran disk repair and repair permissions. Nothing changed. I added a new user account and this is how I was able to get online. Although all the problems I mentioned still exist, this account has Safari in the dock and the program opened so here I am online. So far the only programs I can open from the dock are dashboard, mail, addressbook, system preferences, and safari.
I'm guessing I deleted something that was vital to the system. But all I deleted were files with quicktime in the title.
I've tried to reinstall quicktime, but it says I can't b/c there is a newer version already on the drive. But, this version is not really there b/c I cannot stream or use sites that require Quicktime.
Of course, I would just re-install OS if I had backed-up my data, but I'm between external HDs right now.
Can't get access to the Genius Bar until tomorrow and I really need my comp in its full capacity asap. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

You are welcome, Anita.
I relate to the economics - I was a student myself (1000 years ago...well, maybe a little less).
When you do get an external HD (I bought my last one for under a $100 on the Apple on-line store), take a look at a little program called SuperDuper ($28 at www.shirt-pocket.com). SD makes bootable clones - pretty fast after the first one. I have no installed OS X 10.5, so I have not had a chance to look at Apple's built-in backup feature.