Windows taking long to start up, and desktop not working correctly

twisted31

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Jul 22, 2009
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I've installed a few programs, and some of them didn't work, or didn't do anything, so im thinkin i may have got a virus or something, anyway, the last program i installed was ghostsurf platinum, and it installed somethin called spycatcher as well


so, wen i tried restarting, right before it shows ur user accounts, it says "windows is starting up" , that takes like 3-4minutes , maybe more, then when i login, it takes long, only shows the wallpaper for a while, the taskbar is gone, just a little gray strip at the bottom, then after a while the icons appear, i cant right click , the timer thing comes up.. and it stays there, and i have to manually restart, and the last thing, internet doesn't work...

in regular mode, ive restarted explorer.exe, went to some long path, in HKEY local machine, and set winlogon to c:\windows\explorer.exe

in safe mode, ive tried running AVG command prompt scan, and it deleted a few things, but still doesn't work

anyway, internet works in safe mode, so something is blocking/stopping it , i moved my computer to the desktop in safemode, then in regular mode , i went and checked, it didn't show any network connections, all dissappeared somehow... and a program i tried using with internet didn't work

How can i fix this, i have a TON of files/programs that i dont want to have to find again, some i wont be able to get again.

Thanks
 

twisted31

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Jul 22, 2009
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Um, ive hooked up a seperate hard drive, when i tried to open it , it says "windows cannot open because sys.exe is missing" or something like that, i did a tiny bit of research, and saw this is a virus? how can i remove this? and could this be causing the problems i described?
 

masterasia

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Feb 9, 2009
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Here's what I usually do with my client's computers.
I take the hard drive out and scan them in another computer
Most of the times, that fixes it. Then I run CCleaner, Spybot, AVG scans again once I get the computer
booted again. I might also run the repair from the Windows disc if I can't boot.

If that doesn't work, I back up files and reformat. It'll save a lot more time and headaches and you'll know
for sure the virus and trojans are gone.

All the programs I use to clean the drives are free. I only charge people about $40 to do this to help pay for my heroin addiction.
 
Before thinking worst-case-scenario and jumping into a reformat, consider other removal tools. Albeit one of the worst solutions to try, Windows System Restore tool may help.

First, try the System Restore. Whether or not the problem is alleviated, run other antivirus/antispyware programs. Some of the best out there have free versions.

Spybot Search and Destroy: Freeware
SUPERAntispyware: Free w/ limitations or you can purchase it for full version.
Hijackthis: Freeware, also saves a log file of the scan to help troubleshooting.
Malwarebytes AntiMalware: Free.

Chances are your computer is heavily infected and the reason for the slowdown is because your CPU usage is at or near 100%. This can be attributed to the various forms of spyware or viruses that have embedded themselves into the system registry for immediate startup when Windows starts. As a result, each of the malicious software could be requesting system resources at the exact same time, and since they're designed to start when windows starts, theoretically, they have started before you even see your wallpaper on the desktop.

There is another option. You could get another hard drive and load Windows on it (if not already there). Use the newly acquired hard drive as the Master and the potentially infected (currently problematic) hard drive as the slave. Once this is done, you can simply transfer the files you want to keep.

Be cautious though, if there is an infection, make sure you scan any and all files you want to transfer, for the infection or corruption may be in those files.

Edit: the two posts above this were made while I was typing. I'm basically saying the same thing as Masterasia.
 

punit_pandya

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Oct 31, 2012
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hi frnds i had this same problem of xp taking so long to show desktop screen after boot up .... i followed some advise of cleaning junk files , temp folder ,registry cleaner ..Nothing worked .... i deleted some registry folder in software folder in REGISTRY LIST which were'nt necessary for me .... I DELETED ADOBE FOLDER , SAMSUNG KIES FOLDER AND I RESTARTED PC AND IT BOOT UP IN 2 SEC .... THIS IS A REAL SOLUTION TRY ....
I HAVE THIS SOLUTION ITS VERY EASY BELIEVE ME ..JUST REMEMBER WHICH SOFTWARES OR HARDWARE U INSTALLED RECENTLY JUST DELETE THAT FOLDER FROM REGISTRY FOLDER ....REGISTRY CONTAINS IN ONLY SOFTWARES FOLDER AND THERE ARE 3 OR 4 FOLDERS OF SOFTWARE IN REGISTRY DELETE THEM ALL BY RIGHT CLICK (DELETE) AND RESTART YOUR COMPUTER.......

STEPS

1) Start , Run , regedit.exe

2) HKEY_CURRENT_USER , OPEN +SOFTWARE , DELETE RECENT SOFTWARE FOLDER

3) HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE , OPEN +SOFTWARE ,
DELETE RECENT SOFTWARE FOLDER

4)HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG , OPEN +SOFTWARE ,
DELETE RECENT SOFTWARE FOLDER

AND RESTART YOUR PC .......
PROBLEM SOLVE NOW C YOUR SPEED WILL BE DOUBLE OF BOOTING

DONE THANKS :bounce: :D :pt1cable:

:hello:
REGARDS
Punit_pandya@ymail.com