Outlook problem

Good day to all of those smarter than me,

Any Microsoft Outlook experts out here today.

My problem started yesterday... I have an HP running Windows XP and last
night I was working in the office, not on the computer but in the same room.
It was on and online when Windows decided to do an automatic update and
reboot. I notice when it shut down to reboot, but when it restarted it went
to a black screen saying it had problems, and asking to start in 'safe mode',
'safe mode with networking', a couple others, and start normally. It had a
countdown timer and/or no matter which option was chosen it always would wind
up back at this screen.
After trying all options, hit F10 to go to a previous restore but it
couldn't find any, so I did a system restore via HP. All saved files are
still here, as well as most programs. Ran a virus checker, caught half a
dozen cookies, nothing malicious.
What is not here is the Microsoft Office XP (2002) programs. All Excel and
Word saved files are fine, and the icons are still in the 'All Programs'
slide out but apparently the programs are missing. When you click the icon,
up pops a window saying, "This action is only valid for products that are
currently installed."
The same window pops up when you try to open Outlook. I searched my
harddrive for any .pst files but it couldn't find any. And there was no pst
files at the end of the rainbow in ...application data/microsoft/outlook
The Excel and Word programs aren't my big concern, the saved files for those
programs are backed up, so are a majority of my emails. But I recently got a
couple of emails that
I really need (and getting them re-sent isn't an option.)
Is there a way to find them or are they lost forever. I have the original
Office disc(s) with key (so no funny business here), so I can re-install but
I don't want to do that if there is a possiblity that that will wipe the
emails out completely.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
If you need any more info from me, please ask.
Thank you.
--
MS:Thanks for creating hours and hours of work I have no time to do!!!