Help needed with XP recovery

[s_sridhar68]

All
I got hit by some spyware and it completely froze my computer and
would not get past anything when I tried to reboot. I went into the
F10 menu during reboot to do a system restore (I have a bunch of
digital photos of my young one and did not want to reinstall XP before
backing those up.

Since the system restore it does all the steps of rebooting and then
hangs up stating that some setup file needs to be run. When I do a F1
to access the setup; I'm not sure what I should do from there.

My questions are- (Forgive me- my knowledge here is fairly basic)

1. Is there some way of getting into a safe mode or something so that I
can get hold of the files

2. I have seen some messages here on buying another hard-drive and
loading the OS ( I have the OS backup on 9 CDs) on it and then adding
my "corrupt" Hard-drive as a second drive and getting access to the
files (This sounds a lot of work and would like to avoid this if
possible). If I have to go this route can I buy any hard-drive and
will it load up the OS backup (I have a HP PC if that matters).

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[s_sridhar68]

Anyone have any inputs?

Thanks

 

[Abraxas]

Anyone have any inputs?

Thanks

You could boot from your XP CD and follow the prompts. It will allow
you to repair the current OS without losing any of your programs or
files.

Do not click on "R" the first time it is offered to enter the Recovery
Console. Continue with the installation until after the license
agreement (F8) and the second repair option is the one you want.