I have a dual boot XP and Win 7. I was in XP at the time.

I had recently running spybot because of a virus/spyware in my system
that caused the little RED X to appear in the start up menu and caused
my desktop background to show "YOU HAVE A VIRUS" repair immediately
and then it puts a TRIAL of some software on my desktop. Needless to
say, I didn't bother with it.
So here is what I did :

1) Ran Hijack This and took out what I could. Some things could not
be removed.

2) I rebooted and this did not fix the issue.

3) Tried restarting in safe mode, same issue.

4) Ran spybot and rebooted, this time it continues to log me off in
both safe and regular mode - it says "Loading user settings", and then
it logs me off.

Any ideas how to fix this?

daviddschool wrote:
> I have a dual boot XP and Win 7. I was in XP at the time.
>
> I had recently running spybot because of a virus/spyware in my system
> that caused the little RED X to appear in the start up menu and caused
> my desktop background to show "YOU HAVE A VIRUS" repair immediately
> and then it puts a TRIAL of some software on my desktop. Needless to
> say, I didn't bother with it.
> So here is what I did :
>
> 1) Ran Hijack This and took out what I could. Some things could not
> be removed.
>
> 2) I rebooted and this did not fix the issue.
>
> 3) Tried restarting in safe mode, same issue.
>
> 4) Ran spybot and rebooted, this time it continues to log me off in
> both safe and regular mode - it says "Loading user settings", and then
> it logs me off.
>
> Any ideas how to fix this?

Reformat. Reinstall XP or spend weeks trying to chase down all the
malware. I trust you're backed up.

--
C

"daviddschool" <(E-Mail Removed)> said this in news item
news:4f47d646-afd7-4f4a-9922-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a dual boot XP and Win 7. I was in XP at the time.
>
> I had recently running spybot because of a virus/spyware in my system
> that caused the little RED X to appear in the start up menu and caused
> my desktop background to show "YOU HAVE A VIRUS" repair immediately
> and then it puts a TRIAL of some software on my desktop. Needless to
> say, I didn't bother with it.
> So here is what I did :
>
> 1) Ran Hijack This and took out what I could. Some things could not
> be removed.
>
> 2) I rebooted and this did not fix the issue.
>
> 3) Tried restarting in safe mode, same issue.
>
> 4) Ran spybot and rebooted, this time it continues to log me off in
> both safe and regular mode - it says "Loading user settings", and then
> it logs me off.
>
> Any ideas how to fix this?

The looping issue is caused by a problem with the file userinit.exe. To fix
it can be tedious. As C suggested, your machine is compromised and you
should save all your important files (including your EMail files!), then
re-install Windows on a freshly formatted disk. If you continue with your
current system then you are likely to have a never-ending string of
problems.

On Feb 8, 9:06*am, daviddschool <daviddsch...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have a dual boot XP and Win 7. *I was in XP at the time.
>
> I had recently running spybot because of a virus/spyware in my system
> that caused the little RED X to appear in the start up menu and caused
> my desktop background to show "YOU HAVE A VIRUS" repair immediately
> and then it puts a TRIAL of some software on my desktop. *Needless to
> say, I didn't bother with it.
> So here is what I did :
>
> 1) Ran Hijack This and took out what I could. *Some things could not
> be removed.
>
> 2) I rebooted and this did not fix the issue.
>
> 3) Tried restarting in safe mode, same issue.
>
> 4) Ran spybot and rebooted, this time it continues to log me off in
> both safe and regular mode - it says "Loading user settings", and then
> it logs me off.
>
> Any ideas how to fix this?

You could reinstall without even trying to fix your system, or you can
try to fix what you have.

A reinstall will require a genuine bootable XP installation CD.

You are certainly not the first person to have this problem.

You can probably fix what you have with a genuine bootable XP
installation CD or a bootable Recovery Console CD that you can make
yourself.

Here are some instructions to make a bootable Recovery Console CD:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic276527.html

After you have successfully booted the afflicted computer on the
Recovery Console CD, then you can work on resolving your issue.

On Feb 8, 10:22*am, "Pegasus [MVP]" <n...@microsoft.com> wrote:
> "daviddschool" <daviddsch...@gmail.com> said this in news itemnews:4f47d646-afd7-4f4a-9922-(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>
>
>
>
> > I have a dual boot XP and Win 7. *I was in XP at the time.
>
> > I had recently running spybot because of a virus/spyware in my system
> > that caused the little RED X to appear in the start up menu and caused
> > my desktop background to show "YOU HAVE A VIRUS" repair immediately
> > and then it puts a TRIAL of some software on my desktop. *Needless to
> > say, I didn't bother with it.
> > So here is what I did :
>
> > 1) Ran Hijack This and took out what I could. *Some things could not
> > be removed.
>
> > 2) I rebooted and this did not fix the issue.
>
> > 3) Tried restarting in safe mode, same issue.
>
> > 4) Ran spybot and rebooted, this time it continues to log me off in
> > both safe and regular mode - it says "Loading user settings", and then
> > it logs me off.
>
> > Any ideas how to fix this?
>
> The looping issue is caused by a problem with the file userinit.exe. To fix
> it can be tedious. As C suggested, your machine is compromised and you
> should save all your important files (including your EMail files!), then
> re-install Windows on a freshly formatted disk. If you continue with your
> current system then you are likely to have a never-ending string *of
> problems.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Will the reinstall delete every?

Also, since I am running a DUAL BOOT system on two different drives,
is it safe to go to WIN 7, look at the drive and take what I need from
it before hand? If it is malware, will it jump from drive to drive
even if I am not using it? If I reinstall, does that delete
everything?

daviddschool wrote:
> On Feb 8, 10:22 am, "Pegasus [MVP]" <n...@microsoft.com> wrote:
>> "daviddschool" <daviddsch...@gmail.com> said this in news itemnews:4f47d646-afd7-4f4a-9922-(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> I have a dual boot XP and Win 7. I was in XP at the time.
>>> I had recently running spybot because of a virus/spyware in my system
>>> that caused the little RED X to appear in the start up menu and caused
>>> my desktop background to show "YOU HAVE A VIRUS" repair immediately
>>> and then it puts a TRIAL of some software on my desktop. Needless to
>>> say, I didn't bother with it.
>>> So here is what I did :
>>> 1) Ran Hijack This and took out what I could. Some things could not
>>> be removed.
>>> 2) I rebooted and this did not fix the issue.
>>> 3) Tried restarting in safe mode, same issue.
>>> 4) Ran spybot and rebooted, this time it continues to log me off in
>>> both safe and regular mode - it says "Loading user settings", and then
>>> it logs me off.
>>> Any ideas how to fix this?
>> The looping issue is caused by a problem with the file userinit.exe. To fix
>> it can be tedious. As C suggested, your machine is compromised and you
>> should save all your important files (including your EMail files!), then
>> re-install Windows on a freshly formatted disk. If you continue with your
>> current system then you are likely to have a never-ending string of
>> problems.- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
> Will the reinstall delete every?
>
> Also, since I am running a DUAL BOOT system on two different drives,
> is it safe to go to WIN 7, look at the drive and take what I need from
> it before hand? If it is malware, will it jump from drive to drive
> even if I am not using it? If I reinstall, does that delete
> everything?

Now you know why dual booting isn't a good idea. You should reinstall
both or just one.

--
C

In news:4f47d646-afd7-4f4a-9922-(E-Mail Removed),
daviddschool <(E-Mail Removed)> typed:
> I have a dual boot XP and Win 7. I was in XP at the time.
>
> I had recently running spybot because of a virus/spyware in my system
> that caused the little RED X to appear in the start up menu and caused
> my desktop background to show "YOU HAVE A VIRUS" repair immediately
> and then it puts a TRIAL of some software on my desktop. Needless to
> say, I didn't bother with it.
> So here is what I did :
>
> 1) Ran Hijack This and took out what I could. Some things could not
> be removed.
>
> 2) I rebooted and this did not fix the issue.
>
> 3) Tried restarting in safe mode, same issue.
>
> 4) Ran spybot and rebooted, this time it continues to log me off in
> both safe and regular mode - it says "Loading user settings", and then
> it logs me off.
>
> Any ideas how to fix this?

If you read the text, HiJack This should only be run AFTER you have
exhausted all other means of recovering your computer. It shouldn't be the
first thing you do and won't often get you anyhelp if/when you post the
output as instructed.

It sounds like a clean install might be in order, actually. You may be
infested with several hard to chase down pieces of malware that AV isn't
going to find. If you've backed up as you should, it's an easy process. If
not, well, it might take a day or two or more to do the reinstall. Without
reinstalling you could spend months chasing things and never succeed.

HTH,

Twayne




--
--
Life is the only real counselor; wisdom unfiltered
through personal experience does not become a
part of the moral tissue.

> If you read the text, HiJack This should only be run AFTER you have
> exhausted all other means of recovering your computer. It shouldn't be the
> first thing you do and won't often get you anyhelp if/when you post the
> output as instructed.
>
> It sounds like a clean install might be in order, actually. You may be
> infested with several hard to chase down pieces of malware that AV isn't
> going to find. If you've backed up as you should, it's an easy process. If
> not, well, it might take a day or two or more to do the reinstall. *Without
> reinstalling you could spend months chasing things and never succeed.
>
> HTH,
>
> Twayne
>
I am just worried if it is a virus or malware that is might go to the
other drive. I have a USB flash drive that was plugged in at the time
- and that is giving me issues now, so I didn't want to infect the
other drive if it might do that. But I don't know enough about this
to be sure.

I don't mind reinstalling, but I wonder if my drive is now off-limits
- ie; if I boot with Win7 and access the drive, am I at risk of
corrupting the other drive?
I do have a backup from about 3 weeks ago. Nothing major has been
changed this then, so I am not too worried about it, but there are a
few files I want to get - so that is why I was wondering if I could
boot to Win7 and then access those file from the bad drive - or is
this just causing more issue down the road?
-

"daviddschool" <(E-Mail Removed)> said this in news item
news:a99c33d4-ae76-4fcb-baaa-(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Feb 8, 10:22 am, "Pegasus [MVP]" <n...@microsoft.com> wrote:
>> "daviddschool" <daviddsch...@gmail.com> said this in news
>> itemnews:4f47d646-afd7-4f4a-9922-(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > I have a dual boot XP and Win 7. I was in XP at the time.
>>
>> > I had recently running spybot because of a virus/spyware in my system
>> > that caused the little RED X to appear in the start up menu and caused
>> > my desktop background to show "YOU HAVE A VIRUS" repair immediately
>> > and then it puts a TRIAL of some software on my desktop. Needless to
>> > say, I didn't bother with it.
>> > So here is what I did :
>>
>> > 1) Ran Hijack This and took out what I could. Some things could not
>> > be removed.
>>
>> > 2) I rebooted and this did not fix the issue.
>>
>> > 3) Tried restarting in safe mode, same issue.
>>
>> > 4) Ran spybot and rebooted, this time it continues to log me off in
>> > both safe and regular mode - it says "Loading user settings", and then
>> > it logs me off.
>>
>> > Any ideas how to fix this?
>>
>> The looping issue is caused by a problem with the file userinit.exe. To
>> fix
>> it can be tedious. As C suggested, your machine is compromised and you
>> should save all your important files (including your EMail files!), then
>> re-install Windows on a freshly formatted disk. If you continue with your
>> current system then you are likely to have a never-ending string of
>> problems.- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
> Will the reinstall delete every?
>
> Also, since I am running a DUAL BOOT system on two different drives,
> is it safe to go to WIN 7, look at the drive and take what I need from
> it before hand? If it is malware, will it jump from drive to drive
> even if I am not using it? If I reinstall, does that delete
> everything?

What do you mean with "Will the reinstall delete every?"

IMHO a decent dual-booting system should have complete separation between
the two OSs so that there is no traffic between them. The traditional
Windows boot loaders cannot hide partitions from each other but many
third-party boot loaders (e.g. XOSL) can.

What do you mean with "Will the reinstall delete every?"
>
> IMHO a decent dual-booting system should have complete separation between
> the two OSs so that there is no traffic between them. The traditional
> Windows boot loaders cannot hide partitions from each other but many
> third-party boot loaders (e.g. XOSL) can.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Sorry, I meant a fix or reinstall - will it delete everything or just
the corrupt and missing files?

Also, I am not sure about the USB flash drive. Because I did access
it during the night when it happened, I am not sure about it. I am
going to try and run an ONLINE virus scan to see what comes up
(hopefully it will show me something). The iussue I have with the USB
flash drive is that if it is infected, won't every computer that comes
in contact with it become infect, in effect not really letting me be
able to check it? Is there a way that that I can get XP or WIN7 not
to access the drive and do the 'auto run' thing when I plug it in?