Possible virus

aylesby

My home network is two machines on a wifi router and XP. When I log onto one machine I reach the welcome screen. On selecting any account the menu screen is seen but without its applications and then I am quickly returned to the welcome screen to log out. The other machine is OK.
I suspect a virus has got in but how do I get to AVG or Defender to kill it.

aylesby

Thanks for the bootable antivirus scanner it will be usefull but as you thought the problem may not be a virus and it is still with me.

aylesby

Thank you for that suggestion. Used F8 on boot up to see the safe mode menu
Results for
Last Known Good Configuration
Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
All three offered the welcome screen but on the selection of any user the offer is to log off as before.

Still running Debugging Mode which appears to have gone to the wallpaper and hung. I will give it a couple of hours just in case something is happening.

Are any of the other options worth a try?

aylesby

Loaner.
I have been back to the XP disk and I had to reinstall as it would not repair. That formats my C drive but the family stuff should still be intact on the D drive. I can now spend tine reinstalling. But I can use the computer.
I do not know what happened to cause this problem. My last actions were a round of updating the free virus checkers.
Thank you for your help and support.

mikegahan

Hi_ I had a similar problem with a second hand machine with XP. I downloaded an official Windows security update and could not get into it, similar to your situation. i did some research on the web and found that this had happened to other users who downloaded it. As I did not have the windows reinstall disc and it was a Sony i had to re-equip it with a Linux system