410 I'm not ignoring you but fixing Mistress fob's car got to the top of the priority list. Moreover I've just erased the first draft of the long answer I typed.
The RunDll32.exe scenario is complex. Take a normal Application to start with, say, Outlook, When you open it by clicking on Outlook.exe it becomes a "Process" and you can see this happening in Task Manager where the Process count increases by one and the new one is simply Outlook.exe. However, also in the Office folder there are 6 or so DLLs associated with Outlook with names such as Outlacct.dll and Outlmime.dll. These are Application Extensions and ride on the back of Outlook so you don't see them running.
But you can have DLL's called in their own right and good examples are the Control Panel Functions. They don't have EXE files, only DLLs. And they need RunDll32 to be running to do their stuff. Try having Task Manager open when you open Control Panel and click on say Phone and Modem Options, System or Users and Passwords. You will see RunDll32.exe start and that's it. It'll stop when you close the Function you called from Control Panel.
RunDll32.exe and associated DLLs are used extensively in installation and uninstallation procedures. So this is what I think is the reason you've got the System 32 problem after your unhappy experience with EZ CD Creator. Have you discovered that you can make this Window appear at will? With a clear Desktop try this: Start>Run>type in C: \Winnt\System32 and press Rtn. With this you don't even get a Rundll32.exe started.
So what's the answer to your problem? I don't know definitively.
Check the simple possibilites:
Look in the Task Manager and see whether a Rundll32.exe is running without a corresponding result.
Look in Programs>Start>Startup and see if there is a line like the one above. If so delete it.
Open the Registry (Back up first) and see what is in the various "Run" keys. The quickest way to find a "Run" key is to search on "RunOnce" and then go to the key just above it. See if there is a line like the one above.
But there are dozens of Rundll32.exe calls throughout the Registry and many are incompehensible to ordinary mortals. Some will open a Process if run from the Start>Run window. such as:
rundll32.exe msconf.dll,CallToProtocolHandler %l\1
This will get you the Netmeeting Conferencing window!
As I said, I don't remember what is was that cured my example of your problem (and I had it for months). I'm still thinking and hope to have inspiration soon.