Mr. Bakken et al., please help!

I recent attempted to intall Windows XP SP2 on a Pentium 4 machine with XP
Home Edition, SP1. In order to avoid problems, I ordered and received an SP2
CD from Microsoft. I followed the recommended preparations for doing the
service pack upgrade: numerous spyware sweeps, virus scans, defrag, etc.
until, in my opinion, the machine was squeeky-clean, and of course, I then
created my own system restore point before I went any further. I unplugged
the ethernet cable from the machine's NIC, disabled McAfee Viruscan, made
sure all other unnecessary apps were not runnning, and started the SP2
installation.

Of course, as my subject line indicates, I got the halfway through and got
the infamous ACCESS DENIED...HAVE A NICE DAY message from Mr. Gates & Co.
indicating (I now know) some type of permissions problem (probably caused by
spyware -- God love them!) in the Windows Registry. (By the way, all users,
including me, are Computer Administrators, and there is no Guest Account set
up).

When I got the error, naturally the install stopped and (I'm guessing) the
installer setup program rolled my system back to its previous state.
However, I got a message indicating that because the SP2 install didn't
complete properly that my current Windows installation might be unstable --
thanks again Mr. Gates!

My Questions (finally!):

(1) I read the MS KB Article on the ACCESS DENIED error, recommending
changing the verbose setting in the registry to find the registry permission
keys that needed to be corrected in the service pack install log. However,
is it absolutely necessary, as the article instructs, to attempt ANOTHER bad
install in order to get the identities of the Registry keys that need
changing? It's like asking someone who has taken poison and miraculously
survived to "take another swig!"

(2) Can I safely use the System Restore utiility to roll my system back to
the original good restore point I created before I attempted the upgrade from
Hell?

The most annoying thing about all of this is that maintaining a few windows
machines at home has all but taken my life away. I would just like to be
able to sit down and read book or watch a movie without having to spend every
waking moment of my life reading Knowledge Base articles, scouring the
Internet, doing spyware and virus scans, etc., etc. I would like my life
back...Mr. Gates!!!

Well I vented; any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Joe DiSalvo
--
Wherever you go in this world, there you are! Your luggage is another
story...