Shoutbox

Hi everyone,

First post here. I ran into pretty much the same problem as the OP. I think if I give out as much information as I can, then you could better provide me with some expert help.

My computer had a virus/spyware problem a year ago, and I fixed it with a rootkit anti virus program. I also "fixed" the computer with RegCure, or so I think. Turns out that drwstn32.exe starts to open many copies of itself after I use the computer for a few days and opened more programs. At that time, I have to shut it down and restart it to solve the problem. Also, sometimes the computer says Winlogon.exe has failed upon restarting.

So two days ago, I was updating Windows SP3, and I opened a few programs during upgrade. I did not shut down the laptop for a few days, and the Dr. Watson problem happened. At that time, nothing was working, and being a smartass that I was, I manually unplugged my laptop to restart it, thinking that Windows has saved the previous good configuration.

When I restarted it, XP tried to restore to its previous configuration. However, half way through, the C000021a error occurred. I could not even get it to start in safe mode, or restore previous configuration. Right after the XP splash screen, the blue screen shows up.

So right now I cannot even get into my computer. I'm not too great with command prompt, so I'm not sure what to do. Of course, I did not back up my documents in there. A fresh reinstallation would probably work, but I don't want to lose my files. My friends also suggested using Linux to get the files out and then reinstall the OS. That might work, but if there is an easier solution it would be great.

Would repairing it with a XP disc work? It's a Dell laptop, and I don't have the recovery disc with me. Would any XP disc work? Thank you very much for all your help. Without a computer, it's like 1996 all over again, except this time, I don't have any toys.