I have been using Visual Studio 2005 for a while with no problems. Today it
froze and I had to restart. Since then I have not been able to launch VS.

Looking at the Error Logs in the Event Viewer, these are the related errors
I see:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1)
Faulting application webdev.webserver.exe, version 8.0.50727.762, stamp
45715711, faulting module kernel32.dll, version 5.1.2600.2945, stamp
44ab9a84, debug? 0, fault address 0x00012a5b.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2)
Hanging application devenv.exe, version 8.0.50727.762, hang module hungapp,
version 0.0.0.0, hang address 0x00000000.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3)
The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( .NET Runtime ) cannot be
found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or
message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able
to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and
Support for details. The following information is part of the event: Unable
to open shim database version registry key - v2.0.50727.00000.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4)
Faulting application devenv.exe, version 8.0.50727.762, stamp 45716759,
faulting module kernel32.dll, version 5.1.2600.2945, stamp 44ab9a84, debug?
0, fault address 0x00012a5b.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

[quoted text, click to view]
<snip>

I realize it's a brute force alternative and time consuming, but I'd be
considering a repair install of VS 2005.

The problem has been solved.

I ended up just having to restore the IDE's default settings by using:
"devenv /ResetSettings" in the VS Console.