[jahelp]

Unfortunately my computer is in serious trouble right now - I think I may have a devastating virus. It takes forever to boot up, and when it does, there is no start button on the OS (no bar on the bottom of the screen at all) and no programs will run - they will start, but then immediately will go into 'Not Responding' mode. The program shortcuts are still on the desktop, but are worthless. When I start the computer it even says that my anti-virus and spyware software is damaged and needs to be re-installed. Problem is, I can't run or install anything! When I go into safe mode, the computer screen just turns black and basically locks up.

What the heck is the problem and is it fixable? Thanks for any help you can provide.

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Hi jahelp...

Can you access the System Restore feature (in System Tools) and will it work?

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hi jahelp...

Can you access the System Restore feature (in System Tools) and will it work?

wannabe1

[jahelp]

No I cannot access System Restore - there is no start button on the desktop, nor can I access it through the keyboard start button. Also, any attempt to access 'My Computer' (or anything, rather) causes the system to freeze and lock-up. This is killing me! Bah - I hate computers.

[wannabe1]

Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete. Does the Task Manager open?

[jahelp]

Yes it opens - thats one of the only things that is working, albeit rather ineffectively. Computer still gets locked up when I try to do ANYTHING. Plus without a start menu, my options are extremely limited. Thanks for all the help by the way.

[wannabe1]

Hopefully we'll be able to get to the problem without too many hangs...

In Task Manager, click on "File" on the toolbar and choose "New Task". This should bring up the run box. Type explorer.exe and click "Ok". Does Windows Explorer open?

[jahelp]

Yes! It does! Wow, at least something is running. I got explorer.exe up and it seems to be working normally.

Quick Edit: Although I can browse through Windows Explorer I still don't seem to be able to run any programs from there. Just tried to even open My Computer and computer essentially locked up.

Edited by jahelp, 16 July 2006 - 09:03 PM.

[wannabe1]

Cool!

Now let's see if we can get at the problem...

In the left pane, expand (click +) My Computer, then Local Disk C:, then Windows, then click on System32. In the right pane, locate and double click on regedt32. This should open a Registry Editor.

In Registry Editor, in the left pane, expand (click +) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then SOFTWARE, then Microsoft, then Windows NT, then CurrentVersion, and click on Winlogon.

In the right pane, locate shell. What is the value under the Data column?

Edited by wannabe1, 16 July 2006 - 09:11 PM.

[jahelp]

Hey, just wanted to let you know that I'm unfortunately at work right now, but I'll try this first thing when I get home. I really appreciate all the help!

[jahelp]

Unfortunately when I click the [+] next to 'My Computer' the hourglass icon replaces my mouse icon and My Computer in the task manager says Not Responding. It seems to just stay like this.

[wannabe1]

From Task Manager/New Task, type regedt32.exe and click "Ok". Does registry editor open?

[jahelp]

Yes, the registry editor opens. I'm looking at it right now.

[wannabe1]

See if you can do what I suggested in post #8.

[jahelp]

Under value of data it simply says 'explorer.exe .

[wannabe1]

Ok...that one is correct. Let's look at another.

Expand HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and click on .exe

The values in the right pane for this key should be as follows:

(Default) = exefile

Content Type = application/x-msdownload

Are the values you see the same as those above?