[tex-k] a question about tlmgr on Windows

[Andrew Komornicki]

Karl and friends, 
 
I have a question and a problem relating to tlmgr. 

As a long time user of TeX and friends I installed Texlive 2009 in 2010 on my 
then new Win XP laptop.  More recently I realized that tlmgr has ceased to 
function.  Quite simply, whenever I try to invoke it, Windows responds with 
the message:  
          perl.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. 
          We are sorry for the inconvenience.
 
The current tug.org/texlive/tlmgr pages indicate that there is a fix for 
disaster recovery.  Specifically it suggests to download update-tlmgr-latest.exe 
 
I have done that.  running that executable produces that same message, that 
perl.exe has encountered a problem...........  

is there a simpler fix, save for a clean install of TeXlive (??)   
I really like my present installation, and have been very productive with this. 
any suggestions are very much appreciated.  
 
regards,
andrew