Got a Virus or spy/ad-ware but cant get into Safe Mode.
Dont think you have a virus, but cant get to safe mode.
Here is something you can try as an alternative.
[NOTE: the below will not work on XP-Home, though it will sometimes let you display the account, it will not allow it to log-in, (with or without a password. Attempting to auto-logon the admin account will -beep- and Hang at the "windows is starting-up" screen. The only quick way to log into the system Administrator account is if all other user accounts with admin rights were deleted.....since this would rarely be a desireable troubleshooting technique....I am still working on it though, and have a couple of ideas. Point is, since it won't work on Home, then you don't need really need to modify the registry to get to the admin account, just press clt-alt-del 2 or 3 times and the classic log-in screen will display, then just log in as "administrator".]
Well you may not be able to technically GET to "safe mode", But I can get you "sort of there" but you need to be able to boot to regular windows desktop in order to edit the registry. So damaged Hive or system files are not going to let you boot normally, you have a different problem. This is more for 'driver' and 'services' issues.
Step One: Reveal the Hidden "administrator" account so that you can select it on the welcome screen.
click---Start---Run. Type "regedit" (no quotes.)
when the "Registry Editor" window opens, maximize it, and navigate to this key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
Right-click -UserList-, choose -new- then -DWORD value-.
Name the Key "Administrator" (again no quotes,) then press [enter]
set the value to 1, then click [ok]
close the registry editor.
Log-off
when the welcome screen comes back, the Administrator account should be displayed.
Select it, (if you have a passwrod for it, it will ask. The default is for no password.)
Step Two: Limit the drivers that are loaded on startup.
Enter the Administrator account. When you reach the desktop,
click Start---run, then type "msconfig" press [enter] or click [ok]
when the "System Configuration Utility" window opens, click the -General- tab
Then select "Diagnostic Startup", next click [ok]
Reboot the machine.
This time when you select the Administrator account, see if you can run your virus tools to clean / or fix whatever was ailing your windoze installation !
Enjoy !
Tallon41
[Note: whether or not it helps, don't forget to go back and select "normal startup" and then delete that new registry key you created above.]
What weight does your Spirit have to be in order to be considered "heavy" ?
----------------------Me