HelP! I cannot get into my computer. I get to the welcome login screen, where it says "Administrator" which I normally click and it "loads my settings". However, this morning, something happened, I don't know what, that causes it to get to the administrator welcome screen, and when I click it, it blinks, then begins the logoff process. I've tried the recovery console on the WinXP Pro CD to no avail. I have important stuff I need to recover from that disk if I need to re-partition and format. Hopefully, that will not be necessary.......thanks in advance

First you might consider a way to recover your data. Might try a linux live cd. A friend might have a Vista dvd that might work to recover your data. (not rebuild it) There is also a way to use some cd's of xp to get at data. I might also try safe mode boot. Press F8 at boot time. Could look at event viewer when you are there, if you do get that far. Also you should never access your computer from an admin account for day to day uses. Make limited user accounts for that even for yourself. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, are in my top 10

Thanks for the info. I've tried safe mode, recovery console and even old dos command lines to no avail. I just found out it is a virus, but do not know which one. I need to know how to open the registry or regedit? so that I can delete any new entries. How do I do that within the recovery console? When I try it states it is not a recognized command. The behavior of the computer is that is "cycles" at the boot screen (welcom/logon) screen. Is there a way, within the recovery console to edit the boot or logon file? any info will help. I'm totally lost now anyway. Thx

Did you search before posting? http://www.computing.net/answers/wi... http://www.computing.net/answers/wi... Life's more painless for the brainless.

Jennifer and Jefro, thanks for your information. Seems it was a little more complex than I ever imagined. Your information was helpful, however. It definitely was a virus which had re-written the "userinit.ext" file. However, copying userinit.ext over wsaupdater.ext did not help. I had to delete both and re-boot in order to get in. Windows re-wrote the unserinit.exe upon startup. I then went in and modified the registry, as per instructions via the links that Jennifer SUMN provided. Again, thanks for your help.

You're welcome, and thanks for posting back. Life's more painless for the brainless.