[calebd18]

I've been trying to help a friend who has a computer that is horribly infested with virus and malware. My friend had no recovery partition or any type of Windows CD.

After downloading and running Spybot and Avira Antivirus the computer began to run much better.

Everytime the computer would startup, Avira found a virus called "Winlogin.exe". I tried the "Quarantine" option but it kept popping up. Eventually I just clicked "Rename".

Now when starting the computer it loads the Bios and goes to the XP boot screen - and then restarts - over and over and over. I've tried booting in safe mode - same thing.

Any ideas? >_<

[blues_harp28]

Will safe mode command prompt work?

Tap f8 while your system is starting up.
Choose safe mode with command prompt.
Log on as an admin.
At command prompt type
%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

[calebd18]

When I choose Safe Mode with Command Prompt it acts like its about to load the command prompt, then restarts.

[blues_harp28]

Try a repair install but if a virus is stopping the system from loading it may not work.
And you may need to reinstall Xp.

XP-Repair install.
Insert the XP cd in the CD ROM Drive then switch on the computer.

You will receive the following message:

This portion of the Setup program prepares Microsoft Windows XP to run on your computer:

To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.
To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R.
To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.
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DO NOT at this point select R.... DO NOT SELECT R

Select ENTER
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On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen
Press F8 to agree to the license agreement

Select current installation of Windows XP.and then

Press R to repair Windows XP.
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Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to repair Windows.
After you repair Windows , you may have to reactivate your copy of Windows XP

[calebd18]

Is it possible to download this somewhere? They claim not to have received any disc when they got their computer.

[flavallee]

You can't download a free copy of Windows XP. You have to buy it.

If there's a valid 25-digit product code for Windows XP on a sticker on that computer, you can borrow and use someone else's Windows XP CD to reinstall Windows XP and then use the product code on the sticker to activate it.

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[calebd18]

Thank you! It does have a valid product key on it. So I'll just see if I can find another XP disc.

Thanks again.

[flavallee]

OK, good. Make sure the CD is for the same version(Home, Pro, etc.) of Windows XP that's on the sticker, then attempt Blues_Harp28's instructions on post #4.

If it comes down to doing a complete reinstall of Windows XP, there's certain things that need to be done first, so get back to us if you need to.

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