Norton AV ate critical Windows file

G

Guest

There I was, typing along, when Norton flashed on my screen. I had a virus (I
was connected to the internet at the time.) Norton announced that cleaning it
up was NO problem. Good, I thought.

A few seconds later came the blue screen we all know, and hate. Hit the off
button, waited a few seconds, rebooted. To my shock and dismay, Windows
announced that it could not find windows/system32/config/system.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh.

So. First, I grabbed the nice little diskie that came with my computer. That
happened to be a restore disk. Did not work. Called up Toshiba. The Very Nice
Guy there smiled and said, "Just reformat!" and I smiled and said, "NO!" I've
got too much on there that's not backed up!

He suggested that I find someone with windows xp disks and get the file off
them. Great. Everyone I know also has OEM computers.

So this morning I called up Symantec and demanded a refund. Got it, too. So
much for security. :) Tried to get them to buy me a new copy of Windows. That
didn't fly.

So - what I need to know is - is there a way to get the file? From Microsoft
or anywhere else?

Barring that, if I was to go out and buy a new copy of XP, would that solve
my problem? And if I reinstall Windows, will the stuff in my My Docs folder,
my Outlook files, and so on all be ok?

Are tehre any other solutions???

Please please please help!! Thank you!! :)
 
N

NoNoBadDog!

First of all, you cannot blame Norton for doing it's job. Obviously, you
got a nasty that infected a critical system file. If NAV had not killed it
immediately, it might have destroyed every file on your HDD. NAV did
exactly what it was supposed to do. No fault there.

Second, I would recommend you find someone with a retail version of Windows
XP. By reading the error you are getting though, it looks like you are not
missing a file, but you are missing a critical folder.

I would recommend as the tech did...format and reinstall. As far as not
having a backup, well there is only one reason for that.

Bobby
 
C

Chelsea

Copying over your existing installation will not necessarily solve the
problem Kathi. It sometimes fixes things, but because it trys to retain your
existing settings, it also often fails. A far better alternative is a
parallel installation of XP where you boot from the Windows CD and opt for a
clean install rather than a repair. It will get to a point where it
recognises the presence of a copy of Windows XP is already present, now when
it asks where to put the new install instead of c:\windows use something
else like c:\winXP, that way it will install a fresh copy of Windows and not
over write your existing one.When install is complete you will find on
booting you are presented with a menu for 30 seconds. The new install is
usually the first item on that menu. You can nowe open it and transfer all
your data and pics, music etc across. When finished you can delete
c:\windows. Unfortunately your new install will not have all the security
patches and will only have the service pack that was current when the CD was
manufactured. Also all your programs will need to be reinstalled. All in all
a lot of work.

I moved away from Norton AV a few years ago for much the same reason-it is
just to pervasive into the operating system and almost always causes trouble
Hope this helps

Chelsea
 
A

Alan Smith

Kathi Sharpe said:
There I was, typing along, when Norton flashed on my screen. I had a virus
(I
was connected to the internet at the time.) Norton announced that cleaning
it
up was NO problem. Good, I thought.

A few seconds later came the blue screen we all know, and hate. Hit the
off
button, waited a few seconds, rebooted. To my shock and dismay, Windows
announced that it could not find windows/system32/config/system.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooh.

So. First, I grabbed the nice little diskie that came with my computer.
That
happened to be a restore disk. Did not work. Called up Toshiba. The Very
Nice
Guy there smiled and said, "Just reformat!" and I smiled and said, "NO!"
I've
got too much on there that's not backed up!

He suggested that I find someone with windows xp disks and get the file
off
them. Great. Everyone I know also has OEM computers.



So this morning I called up Symantec and demanded a refund. Got it, too.
So
much for security. :) Tried to get them to buy me a new copy of Windows.
That
didn't fly.

So - what I need to know is - is there a way to get the file? From
Microsoft
or anywhere else?

Barring that, if I was to go out and buy a new copy of XP, would that
solve
my problem? And if I reinstall Windows, will the stuff in my My Docs
folder,
my Outlook files, and so on all be ok?

Are tehre any other solutions???

Please please please help!! Thank you!! :)
Click to expand...

maybe this will help if you can get it started? recovery points: Can you
start in safe mode?
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmb_tol_hyec.asp
(all one line- or search for safe mode on the microsoft site).

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx



windows/system32/config/system is a directory of files, not a file.

Is your XP the pro version? If so the recovery console may help:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...windows/xp/all/reskit/en-us/prmb_tol_kfma.asp
I'm not sure how that works with an oem recovery cd though. It's probably
the Home version you have anyway.

If you do have to reinstall ask Toshiba if the recovery cd reformats the
drive or if it will work over the top of the existing install so leaving
your files intact- the retail version lets you do this.



For later:
If you are unhappy with Norton there is a good free antivirus package- avg.

Once you are running again you should also add spyware programs and run them
periodically- spybot and adaware. And don't forget a firewall- Zonealarm has
a good free version.
 
A

Alan Smith

G

GTS

windows/system32/config/system is a critical registry file. It's doubtful
you could "get the file? From Microsoft or anywhere else" and have it work
as it's the registry for your specific system. The Toshiba tech sounds like
a total incompetent.

There is a procedure to try to recover from this type of failure, but it
rarely works at all and is not applicable to OEM Windows installations. If
interested see How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents
Windows XP from starting
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

It is appalling that NAV just trashed the registry completely. Why didn't
your Restore disk work? Is it the type that forces a reformat of the
drive, or should it be able to do a repair install?

There are various ways to recover your data files and purchasing and doing a
"parallel" XP installation from a standard XP CD is an option. It will
involve some work. You will need to download any Toshiba drivers that may
not be part of the standard XP installation, possibly take ownership of data
files in the old installation, import Email etc.
 
G

Guest

Well, most of you gave me some great ideas! :) Thank you!!

Before I do this, a friend gave me another idea. I have two laptops here.
One is the broken one, the other is the one I'm typing to you on. Both
running Win XP Home SP2. Could I stick an ethernet cable in, and access the
hard drive to copy my files out? Once I've got them, I can just go ahead and
reformat?

Thanks

Kathi
 
G

GTS

Kathi,

Copying your files via Ethernet is possible, but involves more than just
connecting a cable. The problem machine has to load an operating system and
network functionality to be accessible to the other laptop. One way to do
this is to use an operating system that can be run from CD ROM such as
Knoppix http://www.knoppix.net/

There other ways to access the drive in it's present state, but I don't
know how practical they are for you. I often slave such a drive to a
service desktop using an inexpensive 2.5 to 3.5 IDE adapter. External USB
type drives for 2.5 hard drives are another method.

GTS
--
 
G

Guest

:
One way to do
this is to use an operating system that can be run from CD ROM such as
Knoppix http://www.knoppix.net/
Click to expand...

It looks rather technical, but after reading through the FAQ a few times,
and a rather helpful file here:

http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/

This looks like a VERY reasonable solution. I"m downloading knoppix right
now to Laptop 2, will burn to HD, and see if I can make Laptop1 boot. If so,
when we go out later I will see about getting a thumb drive or something to
move my critical files onto (I can dump them onto laptop 2, I guess - I've
probably got more than a minidrive will hold. haven't ever looked at one,
don't know what they'll do).

Then I'll put the handy reformat disk in and do so, and set about
reinstalling everything. A pain, but that will ensure any virus activity is
gone, right? I'll do a full scan immediately, as soon as I have the windows
install done.

Or - we've got a linksys wireless setup - any idea if Knoppix will work
within that to get online? Or can I just direct-connect into the modem? If so
I can just email all this stuff into my gmail account temporarily.

Thank you SO much - you've been a godsend. :)
 
A

Alan Smith

The network wont see the machine unless it starts up.

Do you know if your disk is FAT or NTSC file system? You could possibly
locate the files in DOS and copy them that way- but floppy disks may be a
bit impractical if there are lots of files or large files. There are zip
utilities that run in DOS so you could zip your documents directory-
possibly spanned onto floppy disks.

Or another way- not so easy since its a laptop- take the hard drive out and
connect it into a desktop pc. An adapter may be needed, but once connected
add the drive to the system then copy any needed files.
 
G

Guest

Alan Smith said:
Do you know if your disk is FAT or NTSC file system?
Click to expand...

Oh. I'd have no idea. How would you tell?

I think it's FAT - but I don't know why I think that. :(
You could possibly
locate the files in DOS and copy them that way- but floppy disks may be a
bit impractical
Click to expand...

:::rueful grin:::

These computers are of the "newer, lower end" type. We have no floppy drive
in our house. Sighs.
take the hard drive out and connect it into a desktop pc.
Click to expand...

:::ducks::: No desktop either.

I'm just SO difficult.

Actually, I just downloaded Knoppix and have read up on it over the
afternoon. However, I can't figure out how to get it ONTO the CD. :( When I
try to burn it, the software tells me that my 700mb disc will only hold
650mb.

Back to the drawing board!

Wait. Could I make a bootdisk using this computer, and boot that other
machine into DOS, and get the two computers talking to each other that way to
copy my files? I know, I know. I'm naive. :)
 
G

GTS

You're welcome. I looked at your other replies also.

- The Knoppix download is an ISO file which is a CD image file which can't
just be burned to a CD. To create the CD you need to use a CD burning
program like Nero or Roxio with the capability to burn from an image. The
native XP CD support doesn't have this capability. I believe there are some
free programs that can burn images, but don't have a link handy.

- I doubt that Knoppix has built in support for your Linksys wireless
device. You should be able to connect directly to your broadband modem, or
to your other laptop with a cross over cable (that might require some manual
network configuration).

- re. the DOS discussion - there is a DOS network client, and there are some
free NTFS readers, but without floppy drives setting up a DOS bootable CD
with all this is far more complicated than the Knoppix idea.
--
 
G

Guest

WTC said:
How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry [Q307545]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545
Click to expand...

Right at the beginning of the article...

_____Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your
computer has an OEM-installed operating system.____

Therein lies my problem. :(

I'm currently trying to get Knoppix onto a CD and have run into a snag.
Still working at it!
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Windows Defender + Norton AV 5
NORTON AV/NORTON IS '04 3
Help removing Norton AV 2005 3
Windows SP2 and Norton AV 4
Windows Issues 5
SP2 and Norton AV 6
Norton Error. 10
Norton Anti Virus will not quit 40

Top