My computer logs me off immediately after I log on, any ideas on how to fix it?

Question

I have a pretty messed up computer! I got it in late 2005, and it's been through a lot so far.
About a year ago, I added Windows Vista to it, and several months later, vista breaks, forcing me to use the "use earlier version of windows (Windows XP)" option (Vista is corrupted, wont start). Using that option took 4-6 hours to boot up XP and get to my desktop.
After fixing that long boot-up problem (i forgot how i fixed it, it was an accident), I got some virus or trojan that would cause my google search results to be redirected, so i downloaded Hitman Pro 3.5 to get rid of it. After it found some trojans that my Adaware missed, it deleted them.
Soon afterwards, I noticed my Start button and bottom bar went missing! i minimized a window to see what was going on, and i noticed that all my icons were gone, too. I could only see the background and the windows i had open at the time. I ctrl-alt-dlted to see what was going on, and my task manager wouldn't pop up. i restarted my comp., then logged back on. Still, my Icons are missing and the bottom bar too, and i couldn't do anything except move my cursor. After leaving and coming back to it, i saw that i had been logged back off.
Now, whenever I try to log on after boot-up, it shows my background and cursor for a minute, then logs me off, then after that it logs off immediately. I cant use system restore, cant do anything, really. Since my Windows XP is set as the "earlier version of windows" I can't press f8 to use safe mode, and i just can't find any way of fixing this problem on google.
Please help! I have too many important things on that computer! Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

Answer 1

download security task manager from a friends computer and put it on a flash drive.



Boot into safe mode by hitting either f5 or f8 after you POST



Install, run security task manager and quarantine any suspicious processes.



run MSCONFIG in the Start ---> Run dialogue box



go to the startup tab and delete any suspicious entries.

Answer 2

If you can get Task Manager to open now, you should look to see if explorer.exe is in the list on the Processes tab. If it isn't, that will be why you can't see your icons or the taskbar (what people usually call the bottom bar). I don't know if you need explorer.exe running to abort a shutdown but it's worth trying this:

Press the Windows key and hold it while pressing the R key and then release both. This (hopefully) brings up the Run box. Type this into it and make sure you have it correct:

shutdown -a

That a at the end means abort the shutdown or logoff.



If the Task Manager is working, you don't have explorer.exe running and bringing up the Run box isn't working, then try using the menu option at the top of Task Manager to choose File -> New Task (Run...) and type in explorer then hit OK. When the Desktop is loading or loaded, you should have a good chance of following the above instructions. Of course, it's possible that you would be able to use the Task Manager File menu to abort the shutdown. Just type shutdown -a instead of explorer and see what happens. Then try getting up the Desktop and icons with explorer.



If none of this helps, you'd be much better off getting help at a specialist forum. Because you've had trouble with viruses and that could be the cause of this problem, I'd suggest you start with a virus (malware) forum rather than Software (broken programs and other issues not related to viruses) because it may need the expertise of malware forums to resolve. Obviously, you're going to have trouble doing the things you are supposed to before asking for help, so just do what you can, if you can, and then post a request for help.



There are some reputable forums listed in my profile.

Answer 3

There is probably set to run when the user logs in to log off. You can remove this by deleting the program (or script) from the startup folder. If it is not there you can remove it from the registry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\

SOFTWARE\

Microsoft\

Windows\

CurrentVersion\

Run



You can do all of this while in a Linux distribution.

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/



Dane

Answer 4

buy a security suite cd w/site adviser.