Problem Rebooting In Safe Mode -- "Vanishing" Task Manager Window

[Guest]

I am unable to reboot my Windows XP software in Safe Mode. Tapping the F8
key has no effect ...........nothing happens. I have attempted to enter Safe
Mode through Task Manager. However, if I right click on the bottom tool bar
and open the Task Manager window the window IMMEDIATELY DISSAPPEARS from the
screen within 2 to 3 seconds .............justs vanishes. A technical
support person from Verizon told me he believed this "vanishing" problem was
a virus problem or a problem with my XP (or somehow related). THe same
VANISHING problems occuring when I have tried to install MSN Messenger and
Mcafee anti virus software. Can anyone help ??? Thanks so much.

 

[Brian S. Craigie]

Yes, this nehaviour is symptomatic of a virus. If you are able to,
download AVG7 from www.grisoft.com and scan your machine. If you can't,
take your hdd out and scan it in another machine.

Brian

 

[Malke]

Yes, this nehaviour is symptomatic of a virus. If you are able to,
download AVG7 from www.grisoft.com and scan your machine. If you
can't, take your hdd out and scan it in another machine.

Brian

This is symptomatic of viral infection, but you don't need to remove
your hard drive to scan in another machine. Download (from a clean
machine not connected to the sick one - and it needs a cd burner)
TrendMicro's Sysclean, as follows:

TrendMicro's Sysclean is an extensive antivirus tool which has the
advantage of not needing to be installed. It requires two parts - the
scanning engine and the virus pattern files.

1. Create a new folder on your Desktop or the C: drive named something
useful like "Sysclean".
2. Go here and download the two parts of the program to that folder:

http://www.trendmicro.com/download/dcs.asp - Sysclean
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/pattern.asp - virus pattern files

The pattern files will be zipped - extract them with your unzipper (like
WinZip) or if you have XP, you can just open the folder. You need to
put the extracted files in the Sysclean folder you made.

3. Restart your computer in Safe Mode. Get into Safe Mode by repeatedly
tapping the F8 key as the computer is starting up to get to the proper
menu.

4. Go to the Sysclean folder you made and double-click on sysclean.com.
Start the scan. After the scan is finished, look at the log. You may
need to make a note of where any viruses were found if they were not
able to be removed so you can manually delete them.

After you've run Sysclean, you should be able to install a full-featured
antivirus and update its definitions. Then go into Safe Mode and scan
with it.

Malke

 

[Brian S. Craigie]

Uhm, yes, but the gentleman explicitly said he couldn't get into safe
mode [it occasionally happens, especially with a BIOS that hooks on F8].
The _safest_ way is still to scan it in another PC.

Yes, Trendmicro is excellent too. I didn't mean to promote one AV over
another

Brian

 

[Malke]

Uhm, yes, but the gentleman explicitly said he couldn't get into safe
mode [it occasionally happens, especially with a BIOS that hooks on
F8].
The _safest_ way is still to scan it in another PC.

Yes, Trendmicro is excellent too. I didn't mean to promote one AV
over another

Yes, you're right - I didn't see that he couldn't get into Safe Mode. I
didn't think you were promoting one av over another. Whatever works,
right? ;-)

I wonder if he can't use F8 because he has one of those stupid new
keyboards with the F-lock? If so, he needs to toggle off the F-lock and
then get into Safe Mode with F8. The reason I don't suggest putting the
hard drive in another box as a first resort in these newsgroups is that
not everyone has multiple boxen and/or the skill needed to remove a
drive and slave it. Most home users don't. Also, if they have a second
desktop, there is no guarantee that it has current av and is clean; in
fact, there is a good chance the box is also infected if the user has a
home network.

Cheers,

Malke

 

[Guest]

Thanks to both of you the download and scan of AVG solved this problem so it
was a virus. Thanks so much and Happy New Year!

Doug

Uhm, yes, but the gentleman explicitly said he couldn't get into safe
mode [it occasionally happens, especially with a BIOS that hooks on
F8].
The _safest_ way is still to scan it in another PC.

Yes, Trendmicro is excellent too. I didn't mean to promote one AV
over another

Yes, you're right - I didn't see that he couldn't get into Safe Mode. I
didn't think you were promoting one av over another. Whatever works,
right? ;-)

I wonder if he can't use F8 because he has one of those stupid new
keyboards with the F-lock? If so, he needs to toggle off the F-lock and
then get into Safe Mode with F8. The reason I don't suggest putting the
hard drive in another box as a first resort in these newsgroups is that
not everyone has multiple boxen and/or the skill needed to remove a
drive and slave it. Most home users don't. Also, if they have a second
desktop, there is no guarantee that it has current av and is clean; in
fact, there is a good chance the box is also infected if the user has a
home network.

Cheers,

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

 

[Guest]

Thanks so much the download and scan of AVG solved this problem. Happy New
Year!

Doug