I was having problems with the computer. Ran Norton Internet Security 2009. Viruses found. When it cleaned them and restarted, my computer lets me log on, then immediately logs me off.

Could you try to logon with username: Administrator? If not, try to restart PC on safe mode. F8 when XP boots up. If you can go into safe mode, try run a system restore to a earlier point by start, programs, accessories, system tools, system restore. If none of them works, go to more techie step as follow: Enter the Recovery Console Boot the system using the Windows XP CD-ROM. In the first screen when the Setup begins, read the instructions press "R" (in the first screen) enter the Recovery Console. Type-in the built-in Administrator password to enter the Console. You'll see the prompt reading C:\Windows (Or any other drive-letter where you've installed XP) Type the following command and press Enter. CD SYSTEM32 (If that does not work, try CHDIR SYSTEM32) COPY USERINIT.exe WSAUPDATER.EXE Quit Recovery Console by typing EXIT and restart Windows. You'll be able to login successfully as you've created the wsaupdater.exe file (now, a copy of userinit.exe) Now, change the USERINIT value in the registry (see Phase II in this page) and change it accordingly. Hope it works for you

Phase II as follow: Run regedit Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\ In the right pane, you should see C:\WINDOWS\System32\wsaupdater.exe, Change it so that it reads: C:\WINDOWS\System32\userinit.exe That should solve the problem, if the malware was the one that caused the issue.

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Dear Gary, I have the same exact case. When trying to override the userinit.exe typing: COPY USERINIT.exe WSAUPDATER.EXE, the system can't find the file specified. what to do in this case?

I tried doing the copy userinit.exe from C:\windows\system32 and it could not find the file..???

If your trying to copy USERINIT.exe WSAUPDATER.EXE and your getting the system can't find the file specified. Follow instructions from here. http://kylepc.com/pc-logs-out-startup