Expert: Lorry - 1/6/2007

Question
Hi,

I have a Dell Inspirion 6000 laptop with Microsoft XP windows. I ran the AOL active antivirus software on my laptop and found 252 trojans and all of them were deleted successfully, after the run I restarted my computer. Now when it loads the list of user accounts and I click any one of them to load it will log on and immediately log off taking me right back to the user accounts screen, I can't even see the start bar. I talked to Dell and they said I reinstall using the disk (or by pressing control F11 at the same time which does not work) to do a factory reset. I hate to lose everything but at this point not sure what to do. Do you have any tips?

Thanks so much!

Melinda

Answer
Hi Melinda,

Try starting the computer in Safe Mode, by tapping the "F8" key until given a choice of ways to start Windows. Once in Safe Mode, go to Start, Programs , Accessories, System Tools, System Restore, click System Restore Settings, click Turn off System Restore, Apply, then OK. Now run AOL active antivirus software.

If you cannot start the computer in Safe Mode, you might want to take the computer to the local repair shop and see if they can save the important data and reinstall Windows for you.

Even though you AOL antivirus software installed, which doesn't seem to be working correctly, you might want to forget about that and use AVG or AVAST instead - they are both free. Check them out at:

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

http://www.download.com/Avast-Home-Edition/3000-2239_4-10019223.html

Hope this helps!
Lorry