[pejb1]

I recently got the winhost.exe virus on my laptop. Booting to windows itself is not an issue and it loads into windows and ran fine except some programs were running slow. But this virus has disabled my virus protection programs and does not allow me to run any .exe files saying that "the file is not a valid win32 file". now does it allow me to go to a different restore point and most importantly run in safe mode. I get a blue screen of death saying the computer has an error, virus or hard drive problem and shuts down.

In order to run in safemode some other technitian told me to 1) go into the command prompt 2) type msconfig 3) select the middle tab on top 4)check on safe boot box 5) click apply 6) restart. Hoping this would bypass the virus and go into safemode this is what I did.

Now I can not start the computer because every time it loads windows the system wants to go into safemode which the virus will not allow.

Please help me reconfig my windows so it starts again normally and bypasses safemode.

I have also tried to hit <F8> when restarting and tried to run normal startup but I still get the blue screen

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Hi pejb1. Welcome to the forum.

It's time for a re-install of Windows if you want to be sure that your system is 'clean'. It's impossible to run any clean-up utilities
if Windows won't even start.

[pip22]

Hi pejb1. Welcome to the forum.

It's time for a re-install of Windows if you want to be sure that your system is 'clean'. It's impossible to run any clean-up utilities
if Windows won't even start.

[pejb1]

So there is no way of bypassing my computer trying to load into safe mode I take it

I was affraid of that!

Will I loose all my work, music, and most important outlook pst file?

Hi pejb1. Welcome to the forum.

It's time for a re-install of Windows if you want to be sure that your system is 'clean'. It's impossible to run any clean-up utilities
if Windows won't even start.

[Ztruker]

Yes, there is a way to bypass it.

Boot your XP CD, enter R at the first opportunity to start the Recovery Console.

Once you get to the command prompt, enter: bootfcfg /rebuild. That should rebuild the boot.ini and remove the /safeboot from it.

[pejb1]

Hi Rich,

when I boot from the CD dell gives me it looks like I go into dos mode (black screen) with the d:/ prompt.

what step do I need to take to get the cd to start running so that I can hit R key?

Yes, there is a way to bypass it.

Boot your XP CD, enter R at the first opportunity to start the Recovery Console.

Once you get to the command prompt, enter: bootfcfg /rebuild. That should rebuild the boot.ini and remove the /safeboot from it.

[Ztruker]

I'm not sure what that CD is, but leaving you at a D: command prompt does not sound right.

Download an iso image of the XP Recovery Console from here: zAnother XP Recovery Console

You don't burn the iso file itself to CD, you create a CD from the iso file using your CD burning software. There is a good freeware burner called DeepBurner which will do this.

Boot the CD and at the first opportunity, enter R to start the Recovery Console.
Next, choose which XP installation you want to login to. Normally this will be 1.
Lastly you will be asked for the Administrator password. Just press the Enter key as the Administrator does not have a password (unless you gave it one, then you would enter it).

From the command prompt, enter: bootcfg /rebuild

See here for a bit more info: http://www.computerh...es/ch000648.htm and here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291980