Starting WXP in Safe Mode

[jollyjohn]

I know you tap the F8 key and then you use the arrow up or down to select safe mode. Well. Not here. If I'm lucky i get the selection screen, after many tries, then there is no way I can get the arrow keys to work. The keyboard is OK otherwise.

Is there any other way to force safe mode?

Any ideas?

Thanks

John

[hech54]

http://www.superadblocker.com/bootsafe.html

[Cornucopia]

You probably have a rootkit or similar. Boot from a CD/DVD/USB. Clean your system. Then try again.

Scott

[nic2k4]

F5 should go to safe mode directly. Have you tried the arrow keys on the numpad (you have to turn off numlock)?

[aedipuss]

start/run/msconfig click on boot tab put a check in safe boot mode box. click ok. reboot.

[Cornucopia]

Those are all real good suggestions, but if the OP does have a rootkit/virus, it will often disable or undo those options. That's why I suggested what I did.

Scott

[jollyjohn]

G'day and thanks for all the suggestions. I'll clean it first and try all the tips till I get there.

John

[jollyjohn]

Scott,

Mate you were right on the money. It was infected, alright. Almost everything in the PC was infected. I ran HJT and got rid of more than half of what was listed. Revo Uninstaled and clean registry entries. Ran MBAntimalware, Eset, Spybot Search & Destroy, LSPFix.exe, OTL.exe, cwshredder.exe, and did some manual registry cleaning. So far so good. Almost every program found something, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware foun 114 infected items the first time, second time found 18 more, Eset found 5. I think even the box now is 5KG lighter.LOL.

I could not delete anything in the registry before, now it does whatever I want it to do.

This PC was given to me to use the case. It looks like new. Black piano finish, has 8 USB ports, Video card NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200, and some software. (and lots of sh!t too)


I still have to install SUPERAntiSpyware.Professional.v5.0.1134 and scan. By then I think I can make it fly.

Thanks guys for the help.

John

[jollyjohn]

The more I search the more I find. SUPERAntiSpyware found another 60. I'll keep an eye on this for a few days, if the infection is too deep I'll reformat. I'm just using this PC for audio recording and audio editing.

Chao

John

[jman98]

jollyjohn - Do note that all anti-virus and anti-spyware programs may generate false positives. At some point you just have to decide if you think you've done enough or not. My personal opinion is that 2 anti-spyware programs are probably enough and once you pass those you should be OK since you've already cleaned up using the other programs. Or in other words, once SuperAntiSpyware says you're OK, you probably are. If you keep installing other programs you'll likely find that each new program finds something that the previous programs missed, but it's not necessarily a real problem. However, all anti-virus and anti-spyware programs also may miss legitimate problems that other programs find so you'll never stop scanning if you don't decide how many different programs are enough to use. If you feel that you can't trust the system, just save yourself some time and reformat it now.

[jollyjohn]

Everything is sweet now. I think I saved myself from reformatting. This is not my main PC. I prefer my W7 64, and W7 32 that I built myself.

I find it interesting to have a good challenge from time to time. I am 70 years old and my only hobby is computers and my car. I fix family's and friend's computers and never charge for it, I just can't. If I get the best help and advice, from the best people on forums like this one, for free, I feel I have to return the favor and give the newly learned knowledge the best possible use.

Guys, thank you all for the help

Regards

John

[MOVIEGEEK]

Glad you got your PC cleaned up but in the future you should just use one program such as SuperAntiSpyware. No wonder they gave that PC away, it has more infections than a $2 hooker.