Thank-you pendean. After literally 10 hours of attempting to restore Windows to a previous point only to have that be unsuccessful, un-installing updates one at a time, rebooting maybe 15 times, and reading the forums, I found one comment to try as a last resort. I added the autocad.exe program file to the Vista windows exceptions to the Windows firewall. I can now click on the layer properties manager and the window opens. I am even able to add new layers! I feel like such a clutz and dizzy from getting beat-up by Windows. I expect it was the malicious removal tool update that might have caused the issue in the first place. Thank-you for your incredibly prompt response! It does the heart good to know that you had an interest in my dilemma.
