So on Monday I got back home, watched an episode of How I met your mother online, played the Sims 3, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary.

On Tuesday afternoon when I fired up my computer, after it booted me up I was informed via error message that explorer.exe could not launch. So i hit ok, ran explorer.exe from task manager, and then googled the problem. It's a corrupt or infected "wininet.dll". I downloaded a new one, replaced it, and ran ad-aware. No problems.
My computer randomly restarts. I thus go to safe mode and run Spybot- Search and Destroy. It finds some stuff and is able to get rid of them except for a trojan that couldn't be removed because the dll was in use, but it said it would run Spybot when the computer restarts to get rid of it. I say ok and restart.
After restart, spybot starts to load. Before it finishes, explorer disappears and then comes but after a second, and spybot is no longer working. From then on, if I ever attempt to boot my computer, explorer constantly "blinks" in the same way and doesn't allow me to do anything. In safe mode, when it starts there is the usual notice that this is safe mode blah blah blah. I can stay in safe mode for a few seconds before explorer blinks in it too, only the notice pops up every time, which closes any kind of open program.


TLDR? Start reading here. I've had my computer (an emachines t5048) fail to start up before, and when I had the windows xp cd in I had an option of "Full system restore (with backup)" before windows boots. It essentially copies your harddrive into a recovery drive and then reinstalls windows. Thus in the new install C:\ is your "new" harddrive with windows and everything, and inside there is a folder called My Backup that has everything from the last installation. You still need to reinstall everything, but you have game saves, tax stuff, important files, whatever.

I started my computer with the xp cd in, and I can't find the screen/menu/option to do this anywhere. The Screen itself had a thing saying emachines up in the corner and I had the options of "full restore (destructive)" or "full restore (with backup)". The internet is no help, and emachines support is an outrageous sum of money with no guarantee that they can actually help me. Thus, Massassi, I turn to you in desperation: Does anyone here know what I'm talking about and have any help on how to find this option or to do something similar, or to somehow fix my computer?

Also, when in safemode if you hit No when the notice comes up in the begin, it's supposed to take you to system restore. When I try that, it says that sys. restore is turned off and can only be turned on in normal mode. I know this isn't true, since I had screwed something up ~two weeks ago and restored my computer to a day before and made a new restore point.

Using safe mode with the command window, I tried running system restore that way too. Again it said it was turned off.

My guess would be you got infected with something that decided to dick around with your Windows install. I can't imagine why the restore CD wouldn't work, unless it's trying to interface with the current install in such a way that it's coming across whatever got ****ed.

What I would do at this point, is if your eMachines CD has an option to use/browse the PC off of the CD, do that and backup to an external source. Portable or Live Linux distros could work for that too. Then I'd just format the thing and start over.

I would suggest downloading & running some bootable security tools. This would eliminate issues easier than in Normal or Safe Mode.

I would use a linux livecd, copy everything you want to save off the harddrive. Then do a FULL RESTORE (DESTRUCTIVE).

@Mentat- Any recommendations? I've found "DiskInternals Boot CD" but it doesn't seem to be what I need, and I'm a n00b with this kind of stuff.

@Triscuit- How does that work? Would i be able to load the live cd and then copy files onto thumb drives from the cd's interface?

Can you install windows on another HDD then after it's installed, pull the data off your original drive?

Yes, the linux livecd will run completely from CD / Memory. Almost any modern linux distro can access FAT or NTFS partitions without any problems. So both your thumbdrive and harddisk will be easily accessable. Just copy-n-paste or drag and drop exactly like you would within Windows. I don't forsee you needing to use the command line at all just to save a few folders. Depending on how much you are trying to save, you might want to burn cd/dvd's.

I'm currently running from a live cd, thanks for the tip. It's pretty legit. I'm running a virus scan to make sure none of the stuff i'm taking is defective, though it begs the question: If I can scan for virus and remove them, can't that just fix the problem? I'm going to attempt to boot into explorer and see if I can, but regardless thank you for helping me save my stuff.

And thanks for the other responses; I don't know if the various ideas would work or not since Triscuit responded first, but thanks all the same for reading my plea and trying to assist.

Yes, you could very likely resolve the issue if it's software-related. Many people just backup & restore because it's pretty easy & convenient these days & is almost certainly going to resolve the issue.

Possibly, but its likely that by removing/repairing infected files that the current Windows installation will be badly corrupted anyway. I would perform a clean install.

BTW when explorer is "blinking" that means it's crashing and windows is automatically restarting it when it crashes, but then it goes and crashes again...

Also viruses nowadays tend to target apps like Spybot to break them and turning off System Restore and wiping your restore points seems like an obvious way to keep the user from easily removing the virus.

Windows XP discs don't have the option you've indicated. Check for a "System Restore" disc or other special Windows disc from your computer manufacturer, not a "real" Windows disc. Also try pressing F5 and then F8 when booting from the hard drive, the option may be in the Windows boot menus somewhere.

BTW it's best to take only the minimum files you need that can't be replaced by reinstalling apps (IE user files, preferences) and avoid backing up executable files. Then wipe the hard drive and install a fresh Windows and your apps and put your rescued files back.

Oh and be thorough with where you look for files, lest you forget something.