Yesterday, everything was fine. I didn't install anything, add any device or changed any setting that I can recall. I shut the system off cleanly and went to sleep.
Obviously, that means my fully updated copy of Windows 7 Professional fails to log me in today. After successfully entering my credential, I am greeted by the following error message:
Windows could not connect to the System Event Notification Service service.
Clicking okay makes the message go away... and that's it. I had to shut off the system to try again.
Yes, after reboot I had the same issue.
Yes, I can log in just fine in safe mode.
Yes, I have looked into the event log. Nothing interesting that I could see, except an event log entry stating the System Event Notification Service did enter the running mode successfully.
What god did I anger and what can I do to mollify him and regain access to my computer?