Turn Windows features on or off - empty list

I tried to post this on Windows Newsgroups, Vista General Discussion, but it seems to be broken. There has not been a new post in 14 hours.

Anyway, I have Vista Home premium on a desktop

When I open "Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off" the list is empty. It momentarily says "Please Wait...", then never populates the list.

I read that it may have something to do with Windows Updates errors, so I checked my history. I found 9 failed ones from 10-15 and 10-14. I went to the windows download site and tried to manually install them. Every one I tried ended with a message: "This update does not apply to your machine." I didn't bother to try a couple of them since I do not use Windows mail. Maybe that had nothing to do with it. The problem persists.

I ran sfc /scannow and after completion it said corrupt files were found but was unable to fix some of them. I don't have a Vista CD but I do have all of the recovery disks I made when it was new, however I'm not sure how to proceed.

Am I on the right track?

Thanks,
Rusty