Hi LegTwister,
Error 3038,104 is normally associated with a LiveUpdate error and one of the suggested fixes is in the following link:
https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/kb20080409124354EN_EndUserProfile_en_us
Please try the Intelligent Updater prior to ripping everything apart and see if it gets ridof the error.
It sounds like you have been able to retain the Local Vault, plese be careful how much "cleaning up" you do as if you do not perform "over the top" reinstalls, you may lose your Local Vault. My immediate suggestion would be to Export your Log-ins in both .csv and .dat format to a USB drive for safe keeping - just in case you lose your log-ins.