Using some information gathered from various forums, I compiled a tiny little registry patch that cures the problem. It simply resets the default shell to explorer.exe (something the Aston Shell Uninstall usually forgets). Apply the patch, reboot, and everything should be working again!

You can get the patch here: http://sven-slootweg.nl/downloads/download.php?id=9

If you have any problems, feel free to post a comment.

I’ve been digging around the internet a little more on the Google Unexplained Phenomenon. I actually found Andrew Healey’s take on the things at http://halfloaded.com/blog/unexplained-phenomenom-googles-doodle-gogle/. He specifically names the site http://www.unexplainedphenomenon.org/ that I expected to be a scam site (he even states it as a fact), while http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/06/is-this-the-real-answer-to-googles-unexplained-phenomenon-puzzle/ tells us about Joseph James Chung, and about this mystery possibly being a stunt for the O Campaign Foundation.

I tried to sign up to the unexplainedphenomenon.org site with fake details (you can always try, right?) to see what happens. It presented me with an error page.

Now, after looking up this e-mail, guess whose profile page we find? Take a look at http://www.thalas.com/people_joseph_james_chung.html. I’ll quote two very important parts:

Joseph has worked with Google, [...]

He is the co-director of The O Campaign Foundation, a 4,600,000+ member campaign for cancer research and prevention.

Might the answer of TechCrunch, it being a promotional stunt for the O Campaign Foundation, actually be true? It sure looks like it, and I honestly don’t think that unexplainedphenomenon.org is an ordinary scam site.  ”Unexplained phenomenon” could easily refer to cancer. Which makes the picture complete.

Joseph James Chung set up unexplainedphenomenon.org, and cooperated with Google to get publicity for The O Campaign Foundation. Looks correct to me, especially since Google is usually very charitable.