XP wont boot after system restore

I have a windows XP system at work in which I needed to run a 16 bit application that somehow one of the Windows updates stopped from running.
Well what I did was uninstall a few of the windows hot fixes and updates and finally did a system restore to a few weeks back.
The result is now that my computer boots, but when I click the log on name I get a desktop background with nothing and I can hear an error sound. Then a window pops up telling me C: contains no programs or something.
I'm wondering how I can get this system back. I beleive my data must still be there, is there a way to unrestore? should I try safe mode?
Or must I remove the hard drive and copy the data and reinstall everything?
Thanks in advance.

 

You can try booting off the windows cd-rom and doing an upgrade or repair.