Windows 98 Start Up Problem 1

[hsrini]

Hi,
When I start up my Windows 98 PC, it starts up loading Norton virus shield first and then my wall paper as usual. But after this, the computer seems to "hang" as it does not bring up task bar, desk top icons or menus. When I do a CTRL-ALT-DELETE, I see the virus shield as the only task running. Killing this process does not lead to any change. I am left with a blank screen with my wall paper as the back ground.
Any suggestion to fix this problem without losing all data on my hard drive would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
--Srini

 

[CSCWheels]

Reboot the machine, asd it's starting up tap the F8 key until you are presented with a menu.
choose safe mode, this will have the effect of loading a very basic windows OS with none of the fancy drivers or anything else.
then once you arte in window, go to start, run, type in MSCONFIG and click OK.
Once the system configuration utility is up click on the startup tab and find all references to Norton AV. While your in there clean out any other malware you can find by using the list at this URL

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.htm

Then just reboot your computer......

 

[hsrini]

Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion.
I chose Safe Mode for booting option. However, the results were similar: the wall paper comes up with "Safe Mode" printed on four corners of the screen but still no Task Bar or menu. I was, therefore, not able to run MSCONFIG using Start/Run. I did notice that after the wall paper was displayed, a really small window (basically all I see was a Title Bar to a window with the title "Explorer&quot came up and almost instantly disappeared. I couldn't locate the task on the task manager. Hope this is not a virus/trojan horse.
I also tried rebooting on Safe Mode with Command Prompt and went to C:\Windows\StartMenu\Programs\StartUp. All the .LNK shortcuts were for usual stuff such as MS Office,etc. I did move a shortcut file that I didn't recognise to a backup folder that I created. None of the shortcut files had dates in the recent past and so this didn't raise any suspicion.
Can I run MSCONFIG from the command prompt while in Safe Mode? Is this advisable?
Any other sugestions would be appreciated as well.
Thanks,
--Srini

 

[MiggyD]

1) Virus - just maybe...but you said you have AV. Did you d/l'd the latest definitions? If Norton has a DOS screener use that one to check your files

2) To see if MSCONFIG is on your computer. In DOS Safe mode type this exactly: dir C:\msconfig.* /s. (I doubt you'll have it unless you have downloaded MS's updates/improvements...as far as I know it was not till WinME that it was provided as a "standard" in the installation, but then dropped off again. If memory serves, you may still be able to download it from their site. It's small enough to place it on a floppy and transfer it.)

3) you should check the following files for oddities (If they exist):
CONFIG.SYS
AUTOEXEC.BAT
DOSSTART.BAT
SYSTEM.INI
CONTROL.INI
WIN.INI
WINSTART.BAT

4) As for the LNK you had deleted. Very doubtful it is the culprit. The shorcut is a way to activate a program that isn't running (with some exceptions like your AV, etc). SOOOO, if the program is NOT running then it's not slowing/hanging your system the way you are describing it.

5) You may also want to check out the registry to see if there are any services or other programs set to run in the RUN/RUNONCE/(RUN)SERVICES/(RUN)servicesonce keys.

Other than that I'm at a loss unless you remember something that happed that you forgot to mention ... like you found two EXPLORERs under your WINDOW's directory (in which case one is a malware and the other is the explorer that comes with WIN98) or the Norton was changed from quick scan to thorough scan.

--MiggyD

 

[MiggyD]

I stand corrected. I just found a 98 machine and it does have MSCONFIG. Try using that as CSCWheels suggested.