Why doesn't Windows load (not even in safe mode)?

[rshb]

My computer got infected with 'Winsecurity toolbar 2.1' (a spyware) and to fix it, I installed and ran SuperAnti Spyware (reviews say it's good). It then asked me to restart the pc, which I did manually. When it reached the 'click your username to continue' stage, the usernames weren't there. I opened my user with Ctrl+Alt+Del but then only the wallpaper showed up, no icons. I then tried to load it in safe mode but now only the blue screen ('windows is starting up...') appears and it doesn't go any further.

Please find me a solution. ANY help would be highly appreciated...

Many thanks...

 

[kimsland]

Once you log in (without any icons)
Do a Ctrl + Alt + Del again
Hopefully Task Manager opens
Click on File-->Run-->explorer.exe

Do your icons now show?

If so, do the following:
Check the Shell value for Winlogon in your registry (start->Run->Regedit). Under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
should show:

Shell REG_SZ explorer.exe

Or download this tool: http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/XP_FixLogon.zip
This utility checks for the correct GINA value in the Registry and will allow you to restore it, if its incorrect.

 

[conradodav]

have you checked your BIOS configuration?

 

[rshb]

Well, I just reloaded my Windows coz that seemed to be the easiest option. But now I have landed on another trouble - my files are lost. Although the files weren't really important but if I can find them somewhere, that would be great. Do you guys know if I can get back my files?

Thanks a lot for your quick replies btw.

 

[terminator911]

You should've repaired your installation instead of formatting your C drive and starting from scratch. You formatted the HDD and in doing so deleted everything on it.

You could try running Recuva http://www.recuva.com/ and see what you get. Not sure that you'll be able to recover much though.