some programs 'disabled' including Solitaire

Not sure what tag or category this would come under, but my friend is unable to play Solitaire, Spider Solitiare, and when I visited her to see this phenomenon for myself, I then discovered that the Control Panel was also 'disabled'. When I asked a computer salesperson for advice I was told it was a problem with Vista live updates and HP. Has anyone else come across this sort of problem? When we try to bring up Solitaire etc by the usual method, clicking on the desktop icon, nothing happens. The same thing happened when I tried to bring up the Control Panel. I went through the steps from C drive to Microsoft Games and everything is as it should be. Thankfully this computer salesperson has assured me that they will fix the problem as soon as I take the laptop to them. And even though the laptop is out of warrenty, the salesperson will fix the problem free of charge. That is what I call true "after sales service.". It would be interesting to see if anyone else has experienced anything similiar. Regards, drillersmum.