Thanks weevil for taking the time to answer. For a bit there, I thought this post would never get a reply.
My version of NIS is ver 19.8 (NIS 2012) which is not listed to have any known issues in the release notes. I should have posted earlier I solved the problem by reading some previous posts talking about issues with pgpdesk.exe.
I deleted the 2 xml files under C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\PGP Corporation\PGP (Win 7)
Apparently, if there are too many PGP Messaging profiles, it starts to impact pgpdesk.exe from opening or at least being visible. I'd say maybe deleting PGPpolicy.xml might be good enough but it is too late for me to try that since I just deleted both xml files in that folder right away.
Once you deleted the files, reboot, you'll be asked to re-enter your product key. PGP Desktop opens perfectly. Your messaging profile list will be empty so you'll need to rebuild that again. And no need to worry about your PGP keys, they are safe, plus there is no impact to WDE.
Just to add, I hope Symantec fixes the bug regarding those xml files. I don't consider this a permanent or ideal solution, but at least it gets you moving forward for now.