Virus deleted; can't log into Windows

[Jason Hardy]

My anti-virus program identified several hundred
occurences of two similar viruses: PE_Valla.a, and
W32/Xorala. Both are rated as low threats, non-payload
carrying. They essentially infect system executables and
reside there until either cleaned or deleted (at least to
my knowledge).

My antivirus software recommended deleting most of the
files...which I allowed it to do.

I rebooted when it was through, and could no longer log
into Windows 2000 Professional. I entered the correct
username and password, and desktop would start to load,
but then it would immediately revert to the login screen.
I have not been able to resolve this. Any thoughts?

My best guess is that the antivirus software deleted a
system file that allowed the computer to load desktop.
I'm assuming a reinstall of Windows might be necessary...

 

[Bill James]

I'm surprised your AV didn't give you a recommended option to repair files since this virus infects files by adding a new section which should be able to be cleaned. Have you tried booting to Safe Mode or Last Know Good? If you can do that then you might be able to recover using sfc /scannow to restore system files. Otherwise, unless you can determine what system files have been deleted and restore them from the Recovery Console, a Repair Install may be your only option.

--

Bill James
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User

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