HELP - Major computer ****-up!

[NightCal]

Earlier this evening I ran Superantispyware on my laptop (Windows XP pro). It identified that a file had a 'malware trace' and I didn't look to see what the file was. I opted to remove the infection and only too late did I realise that it was cleaning or quarantining or deleting - don't know which a file which I think was called WinLOGIN or something similar. Everything seemed tickerdyboo until I turned the compter on again later and it now continually kicks me out of windows and back to the choose user screen!!!! AAARGH!!!.

I've tried the 'restore to last good settings' start up and booting in safe mode but I still get the same problem. The CD boot disk I burned freezes half way through boot up. Double AAARGHH!!!

Apart from any suggestions about how best to throw laptops, has anyone got any suggestions of how I might recover this situation without having to do a complete rebuild?

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

My sympathies Michael.
Wish I could help. Good luck.

[RickS (Rick)]

You should be able to boot to the recovery console or system recovery options (depending on what version of Windows you are running) from the original Windows installation media. If you're lucky you might then be able to repair the system without a reinstall.

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

You should be able to boot to the installation cd and press press Enter as if you are going to install XP. After agreeing to the terms, you will be given the option to perform a repair. That should get you back to normal

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by supernova1965

You should be able to boot to the installation cd and press press Enter as if you are going to install XP. After agreeing to the terms, you will be given the option to perform a repair. That should get you back to normal

Assuming he has the CD, which many manufacturers - especially of laptops - do not provide.

If the CD repair works, you have to reapply all patches newer than the CD. For example, my XP Pro CD is SP2. Good thing I have a CD with SP3.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Man... computers are so much drama. Last week my laptop HD packed it. No warning. Two days ago a 500GB data disk on my work PC packed it too. No warning either. I got both back from blanks and Acronis differential images that I do diligently every single week. Might sound like a pita to backup but it pays off big time when the s||t hits the fan. I don't stuff around with OS or recovery CDs anymore. I just restore whole partitions and resize them as needed.

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Man... computers are so much drama. Last week my laptop HD packed it. No warning. Two days ago a 500GB data disk on my work PC packed it too. No warning either. I got both back from blanks and Acronis differential images that I do diligently every single week. Might sound like a pita to backup but it pays off big time when the s||t hits the fan. I don't stuff around with OS or recovery CDs anymore. I just restore whole partitions and resize them as needed.

YEP I always do this saves so much trouble and heartache

[RobF (Rob)]

Within 2 days last month my screen blew, mouse stopped working (left button, electronics ok) and then windows refused to boot. Acronis refused to restore until I eventually figured out to change some BIOS settings to a disk compatability mode.

Basically wasted one whole sat getting back to normal.

They can definitely be an expensive black hole for time and money when you least expect it. My Acer laptop has a partition with all the XP and recovery software on it - you don't have any such area on your laptop perhaps?

[NightCal]

Thanks for all the input. After many fruitless hours trying to resurrect Windows I eventually admitted defeat and reinstalled an image file of the disk. Unfortunately it was quite old so much of the weekend has been taken with re-installing software. My data files were pretty much all back up, so I've not lost anything important.

I've created a new image file of the hard disc using Acronis, so any future rebuilds should be less painful.

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

Originally Posted by NightCal

Thanks for all the input. After many fruitless hours trying to resurrect Windows I eventually admitted defeat and reinstalled an image file of the disk. Unfortunately it was quite old so much of the weekend has been taken with re-installing software. My data files were pretty much all back up, so I've not lost anything important.

I've created a new image file of the hard disc using Acronis, so any future rebuilds should be less painful.

I would make a habit of doing regular images and one if you make any software or data additions to your computer. I am glad you are up and running again. Windows 7 has a good feature that I am using now it automatically makes a new image of my computer every sunday on a separate HDD so I always have a fallback position that is only a week old

[snowyskiesau]

I have a number of systems running both Linux and Windows. Regular backups of everything.
If something goes wrong with Linux (rarely) I can fix it pretty quickly.
If it's a Windows problem (XP), it always takes longer , lots of web research to find and answer and multiple reboots.

I'm not sure if this says more about the differences between Linux and Windows or more about my lack of expertise with Windows.

I do have an IBM laptop running XP that's at least 6 years old and has never had a reinstall. Lots and lots of patches and the occasional virus concern but pretty much a trouble free system.

[supernova1965 (Warren)]

Originally Posted by snowyskiesau

I have a number of systems running both Linux and Windows. Regular backups of everything.
If something goes wrong with Linux (rarely) I can fix it pretty quickly.
If it's a Windows problem (XP), it always takes longer , lots of web research to find and answer and multiple reboots.

I'm not sure if this says more about the differences between Linux and Windows or more about my lack of expertise with Windows.

I do have an IBM laptop running XP that's at least 6 years old and has never had a reinstall. Lots and lots of patches and the occasional virus concern but pretty much a trouble free system.

The thing with Linux is if in the rare event that something goes wrong your operating system is on the Root partition and all programs and data are stored on the home partition. Which means if you have to reinstall the operating system all you need to do is leave the Home partition intact and all your programs and data are still intact and working if microsoft wake up to this then it will be a surprise to me but they should follow this method seeing how much Windows needs to be reinstalled.