I'm trying to help a friend who's computer has been hijacked by, apparently, malware. I've found some similar symptoms to his, but with an important wrinkle and am hoping someone can point me in the right direction. He's running Windows XP Pro on an HP PC, no recovery partition that I see.
Symptoms
- When booting normally, I can login OK. The cursor shows busy, the standard Windows XP wallpaper displays. But that is all. There is no taskbar, no start button, no icons, etc. AND pressing Ctl-Alt-Delete brings up an options screen with Task Manager disabled. There is no apparent way to access any programs, command prompt or anything.
- When booting in any of the Safe Mode options, the computer appears to load the drivers, then simply reboots itself. I cannot get any further with any Safe Mode options.
As I mentioned, I've seen similar posts, but none where the Task Manager is disabled as well. As a result all of the solutions for downloading software or running programs, for example regedit to modify the registry, are one step beyond what I can do right now.
I am beginning to think my only option is to attempt to boot from an OS CD and run the OS recovery option. Short of telling my buddy he has to wipe his drive, I'd really appreciate any advice you can offer.
Thanks,
Greg
Edited by Gregory Sandoval, 26 September 2009 - 10:17 PM.
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