Hi Bill,
Run a spyware cleaner lately? The userinit value may have been corrupted by
the removal of blazefind. It adds wsaupdater.exe to the logon value in the
system registry, sometimes appending it, sometimes replacing it. Running
Adaware or other cleaners detects and removes wsaupdater.exe, but doesn't
correct the registry damage. If this is the case, then you may need to load
the registry hive from another installation and change it. This is the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Userinit string value should be:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,
On the damaged installations it's one of these:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wsaupdater.exe,
C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe,C:\WINDOWS\system32\wsaupdater.exe,
Another "quickie" method of resolution is to load the Recovery Console (see
below), copy userinit.exe as wsaupdater.exe from the command prompt, then
restart normally. Once in, go and change the registry value back to what
it's supposed to be and delete the copied file. To do this, use these
commands:
C:\Windows>
C:\Windows>copy C:\Windows\system32\userinit.exe
C:\Windows\system32\wsaupdater.exe
Then you can exit once completed.
HOW TO: Install and Use the Recovery Console in Windows XP [Q307654]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307654
This can also be done by using the 6 disk boot floppy set mentioned in the
above article, as it loads enough of the Recovery Console so that you can
copy the file. This is particularly useful if you have an OEM installation
that includes only a Restore CD, or no disk at all.
--
Best of Luck,
Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone
Windows help -
www.rickrogers.org