BleepingComputer.com: Windows Explorer Error Loop - Resovled, but...

My laptop was out of commission all last week due to a Windows Explorer (Vista 32) Error Loop which occurred every 10 seconds after startup. I had another laptop at my disposal to do research and found many threads on many websites that attributed this problem to many different causes. I did a lot of things to try to route out the problem and in the end I used the Malwarebytes anti-malware program which removed 2 "Rouge Installer" registry entries.

After I removed these, the problem still persisted. In preparation to reinstall, I moved my personal files to one folder on the desktop, scanned the folder many times with various programs and transferred them to my external (all in safe mode). After moving 70GB I restarted and the error loop did not occur.

Could it have been a file on my desktop causing the problem? If so, how can I check? And should I now be worried about my external HD?

Since my computer is working properly now I am happy to leave it as is, but there is something fishy about the whole sequence of events especially since I spent a week trying to figure it out and was sure I needed to reinstall Windows. I just want to make sure that my system is ok (it appears to be) and that my external is ok.

Thanks in advance.

Marc