[Ham-Computers] "Disappearing" Desktop

[jeff]

paulahkolik at aol.com wrote:
> My desktop has "disappeared." When I boot-up, all I visually get is 

have you ever used a linux or Windows rescue disk?  They'll allow you to 
get at the system and futz around with it or xfer data off.


> I can't run system restore at present, as I'm in the process of removing 
> arm32 & a mysterious file called "1.exe"

Lovely.



> Any suggestions shy of running a factory restore? 

you could *try* a system repair with the XP disk.  One choice drops you 
to a prompt - type HELP for commands you can use.  The other asks for a 
rescue disk and if you don't have one, attempts to do a non-destructive 
reinstall.  Unfortunately it doesn't always `find' your Windows 
installation (even though you know exactly where it's at).

Of course this will also depend on you removing the virused files first 
or they'll likely wind up right back where they started.

If you can get online, you could try a free scan at any of the major 
vendors.  You could also put together an emergency boot disk via your 
virus scanner, which the system will boot directly to and run a scan.


Let me know how you make out.