[Jackpine]

Hello, I have an HP laptop with Windows 8.1, and I think I messed it up big time.  Here is what happened.

 

I went to a website and found that I kept getting the same two popups.  I ran Junkware Removal Tool and adw Cleaner.  They removed some malware.  I rebooted and everything worked fine, except I got the following dialog box  (I wrote it down):

 

Windows Script Host

C:\Windows\run.vbs

Line: 39

Char: 1

The system cannot find the file specified.

Code: 80070002

Source: (null)

 

I then searched the web to find out what this means and how to fix it.  I came across one site that said maleware probably resulted in this change.

 

The fix was to go to regedit, and to the following location:

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS NT\CURRENT VERSION\WINLOGON.  Then to double click the entry Userinit and change

wscript C:\WINDOWS\run.vbs, to C:\Windows/system 32\userinit.exe,

 

I deleted only wscript, and then exited regedit and restarted the computer.

 

It starts up with my username and icon, but then the screen remains totally black.  Only the cursor is visible.  I can press Ctr-Alt-Del and go into Task Manager if I want, and open it, but that's it.

 

When I looked at my notes, I see that I did not change the entry completely as required.  I am 99.9% sure that I forgot to change the run.vbs to system 32\userinit.exe

 

Is there any thing that I can do to correct my stupid mistake?  The laptop didn't come with a Windows disk.

 

Thank you.

 

UPDATE:  I found that for HP laptops, as soon as I turn on the power and hit the ESC key repeatedly, I can enter Advanced Options.  From there I did a system restore.  The computer then started up OK and the message that appeared earlier about the file that couldn't be found didn't appear.  I will monitor the computer over the next couple of days.  Hopefully everything is fine.  I will also avoid making registry changes in the future!

Edited by Jackpine, 28 March 2016 - 07:59 PM.

[Advertisements]

Hi,

 

Make sure you run Junkware Removal Tool and AdwCleaner again to make sure System Restore didn't put the malware back.

[SleepyDude]

Hi,

 

Make sure you run Junkware Removal Tool and AdwCleaner again to make sure System Restore didn't put the malware back.

[Jackpine]

Hi,  I reran Junkware Removal Tool and AdwCleaner. They both cleaned up some garbage.  The computer seems to run OK, but how can I check to ensure that it is truly clean?

[SleepyDude]

Hi,

 

In that case its best to post on the Malware Section of the forum, follow the guide here from Step 3 for a malware check.

[Jackpine]

FreeBooter, thanks for the info, but I don't really understand what you are saying.  I have taken SleepDude's advice and posted this on the malware forum.

 

Edit: Here is the link to the malware thread. Looks like problem is solved there. - Z

http://www.geekstogo...s/#entry2543703

[Jackpine]

That's clearer, thanks.  I'll see what happens on the malware removal forum.