Not loading up Explorer

[Explicit]

My window 98 SE isn't loading up the explorer when I start up the computer. Whenever I go to the Username and Password login and I enter my pwd or hit ESC, the computer locks up . Anyway to fix?

[GaryRouth]

Each of your previous two threads pointed to virus/spyware infection. This one may be no different: sounds like a Blaster/Sasser type worm.

For tips on securing your wireless network, see my last reply in the "Opening new windows" thread http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?p=753715

And for cleaning the current drive, it may be so far gone that now you'll need to either start the machine in DOS and run a DOS AV like F-Prot, or slave the drive in another computer and clean it there. If you have a recent AV program that has a bootable CD, and you can use another computer to download the recent definitions (you'll need a friend with the same AV) onto a set of floppies, that is an option too (don't forget to write-protect the floppies before you use them on the infected machine).

You might have a hardware problem as well, but so far what you've described sounds more like an infection = so you might as well rule that out, and then test the hardware if the cleaning doesn't help.
. . . Gary

[Explicit]

How am I able to start it on DOS mode? I was trying to find out how to get onto the options where it says "normal, safe mode, etc" and wasn't able to find out how to.

[GaryRouth]

For a try at a QuickFix:
1) tap the "F8" key while the computer is powering up to enter Safe Mode.
2) run AntiVirus/AntiSpyware scans from there.

There's a good chance you won't be able to enter Safe Mode. In that case, you'll want to either try scanning from DOS, from a bootable AV CD, or slaving the drive in another computer.

DOS - - -
I haven't had the occasion to F-Prot yet myself, but it gets recommended here a lot by other techs. I'm not sure it creates a bootable floppy or not. If it doesn't, you can download a bootable floppy from bootdisk.com. Remember to write-protect the floppy after you've created it. Then set your computer to boot from the floppy drive. To do this, enter Bios Setup as your computer is starting - - press the key displayed on your monitor at startup time "Press F1 (or DEL or F10, etc.) to Enter Setup". Look for a menu item "Boot Order" or "1st Boot Device" - and set the floppy drive as the first. [To figure out how to get around the Bios Setup screens, look for directions usually along the top or bottom of the first Setup screen you see]. When you've made your change, you need to select an item such as "Save and Exit" (otherwise your changes won't be kept). Here is the link for F-Prot for DOS - http://www.f-prot.com/products/home_use/dos/ . . . and here is the link to bootdisk.com - http://www.bootdisk.com
[P.S. you can also boot into DOS if you have a Win9x installation CD, and your computer can boot from it (change the 1st Boot Device to CDROM) = choose "start computer with CD-rom support" when prompted. The computer will start with a DOS prompt. (by the way, "DOS Mode" is a bit different from booting regular DOS, but it's too long a story for here.)]

Bootable AV CD - - -
Recent AV software often includes a bootable CD, that will run an "Emergency Scan" from the CD itself. Many also will check the floppy drive to see if recent virus definitions are on a floppy diskette. If you have such software, or have a friend who does, follow the instructions included with your software. Write protect the floppies if you put the up-to-date definitions on them (the definitions on the CD are going to be fairly old & not particularly useful).

Slave the drive in another, well-protected PC, and clean it there - - -
I decided to write a little guide on how to do this, which I'll post in the Tips & Tricks section either later today or sometime tomorrow. This has to be done carefully, to avoid ending up with two infected computers, and a truckload of frustration.

. . . Gary

Late Edit: it's a bit of a rough draft, but here's the link to a guide for cleaning an infested drive as a slave in another PC http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=106182

[Explicit]

I downloaded from bootdisk.com, but when I put the disk in it says that it can't read disk, please replace and press the key.

[GaryRouth]

Try the download again. If using a "download manager" on that computer, temporarily disable it.

Most of the downloadable bootdisks from bootdisk.com are executables that create the floppy. You put a clean, formatted, diskette in your "A" drive, and the program offers to write to the diskette. When done, write-protect the floppy (so it isn't vulnerable to infection).

What AV approach are you going to try?
. . . Gary

[Explicit]

I'm not very good with computers, so I somewhat don't understand.

What program do I use to write-protect the floppy? the F-Prot?
Than I download the Bootdisk onto the floppy or do I download onto the computer than transfer to the floppy?

[GaryRouth]

1) to write-protect a floppy, all you have to do is move the little plastic tab [there's only one little plastic tab on a floppy, so you can't miss it = some diskettes are nice enough to show a little icon of a lock either "opened" or "locked" to help you see which position is the "locked" setting. Basically, looking at one end of a floppy, if you see two little square holes, then the tab is in the "unlocked" postition (it's writable). And if you only see one little square hole in a corner, the tab is in the "locked" position (it's write-protected).

2) a.---Let's leave the DOS tools to a more advanced user for now. If we need them, we'll walk through that later.
2) b.---[quick answer to the bootdisk question = you download using a different computer, and run the program in the download, which creates a bootable floppy diskette from which you can start the troubled computer. You write-protect both this floppy and the F-Prot floppy while using them. The F-Prot floppy is a separate download. The download I saw was not a bootable diskette: it was only the F-Prot DOS antivirus program, with some virus definition files. That download needs to be copied to a floppy, then after the troubled computer is started with a bootdisk.com bootable floppy, the bootdisk.com diskette is removed, and the F-Prot diskette is inserted. The from the A: prompt, the F-Prot AV program is run by typing in "F-prot" (without the quotes). You'll see a menu of choices = you'd choose Scan.]

3) If the computer Already has an up-to-date antivirus program on it, see if you can start the computer in Safe Mode, and start an AntiVirus scan from there. To start the computer in Safe Mode, tap the F8 key just after turning the computer's power on. Keep tapping until you see Safe Mode as a choice on a menu. Run the AntiVirus program as usual - just click on it's icon.

4) If all of this is making you dizzy, don't forget you can ask someone with a little more experience to help you. It sounds like your computer has a fairly serious infection, and there's no shame in having someone help you in person. We'll talk you through as much as we can - but things might go a little faster if you have a tech-minded friend along. Have your friend read the posts here if you do have someone helpful drop by.

. . . Gary

[glc]

1. You got it backwards, Gary - when the hole is open, it's locked, when it's closed, you can write to it.

2. Procedures for putting F-Prot on floppies:

ftp://ftp.f-prot.com/pub/dos/f-prot.zip

Unzip it into an empty folder.

Update the definitions:

http://www.f-prot.com/cgi-bin/get_randomly?fp-def
http://www.f-prot.com/cgi-bin/get_randomly?macrdef2

Unzip those into the same folder.

You are going to need 3 empty floppy disks. It is best not to place any F-Prot files on the system boot disk for various reasons.

Copy the following files from your F-Prot folder to the first floppy:
f-prot.exe
english.tx0
macro.def

Copy the following file from your F-Prot folder to the second floppy:
sign.def

Copy the following file from your F-Prot folder to the third floppy:
sign2.def

Boot with the bootdisk. When you get the A prompt, remove the bootdisk and put your first floppy in, type F-PROT /LOADDEF

Put the second and third disks in when prompted.

[GaryRouth]

Thanks for noticing my typo last night, glc - Little plastic tabs are getting hard for these old eyes to see late at night!

To repeat glc's correction:
locked (write-protected) = two little square holes
unlocked (writeable) = one little square hole

[I'd usually edit my mistake from the first reply, but too much time has gone by. So I just have to say "Ooops!" & "Sorry about that"... ]

[also, nice instructions on the F-Prot - I saved them to a Repair Tips folder, since I still haven't gotten around to trying F-Prot yet]

Hope things are getting better, Explicit
. . . Gary

[Explicit]

Would it work if I have an XP do it for the 98? Since all I got is a XP.

The two little squares on the round metal in on the center of the disk right?

[GaryRouth]

Hi again

Explicit - not sure which procedure you're referring to in your question "Would it work if I have an XP do it for the 98?". If you are referring to creating the F-Prot floppy, simply refer to the instruction files that glc provided in the links above.

If you are referring to slaving the 98 drive in an XP computer, then the answer is yes - but I'd recommend that this procedure only be done by someone with a fair amount of computer repair experience. From some of the questions you've raised, I think you might be best-off having a more experienced helper providing assistance for that somewhat advanced repair. If you do decide to try, pay close attention to the instructions in the links posted for that repair.

And . . . regarding the floppy diskettes - we are referring to the plastic tab about 1/8th of an inch square, that slides to either open or close a small square hole in one CORNER of the floppy (on the lower left-hand corner, as oriented when inserting the diskette into the drive). You shouldn't see any round metal at all [unless you have a translucent ("see-through") style diskette]. We are also not referring to the METAL tab that slides sideways, and really shouldn't be bothered with.

I'm thinking that you'd profit from a few tutorials and background research - you might find it both fun and rewarding (helpful in your repairs and overall understanding). We have several guides right here at PC Mechanic, you can find out details on a great many areas of PC hardware as well as Operating Systems: http://www.pcmech.com/guides.htm - - - and, believe it or not, there are actually three or four articles just on floppies & how they work. Check it out!

Google even has a directory full of links to various introductory guides. You can find it at http://directory.google.com/Top/Comp...inners_Guides/

[glc]

You can create the 3 F-prot floppies on an XP box, all you have to do is copy files to them - and XP can create a DOS bootdisk, put a blank in the drive, right click on it in My Computer, select Format, and one of the options is create a DOS bootdisk. No need to download one.

No, not in the middle - the little square holes in the corners of the plastic opposite the end you stick in the drive. One will have a switch to open and close the hole - open it to write protect, close to write. The other hole that you can't close is to tell the drive it's a 1.44mb disk instead of a 720kb disk.

[Explicit]

I put all the disks to write-protect.
After it goes to the DOS, and I type in "F-PROT / LOADDEF it says "Critical Error: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?"

[glc]

There is no space between the / and the loaddef, and you do not use any ".

F-PROT /LOADDEF

If you still get the error, you have a bad floppy disk or a problem with the drive.

[Explicit]

I didn't put any quotations, I just did that to show what I typed in. I typed in F-Prot /LOADDEF, didn't work.

What kind of Floppy should I use, or how do I fix the drive?

[glc]

Use brand new 1.44mb floppies - if you don't have new ones, reformat old ones with a full format, not a quick format.

[Explicit]

When I download it, I download it into a New folder?

Or when I finish downloading it, than I move all the files into a new folder? Than downloaded the rest and unzip and move the folders into the "new" same folder?

[tacoeater]

you write protect the floppy after you have copied the files to it, not before.

[Explicit]

Yeah I know that tacoeater.
The question I needed answered right now is about the folders.

[glc]

You unzip all the f-prot files into the same folder - program first, then the signature updates, letting the updates overwrite the old ones - just as I said before.

[Explicit]

I don't get what you mean when you say "upzinp all the f-prot files into the same folder"

I use winzip so its pretty hard to understand when you say unzip all them to the same folder...

so do you download the three downloads you provided, than unzip them, and move them to a new folder? all 3 downloads files into the new folder?

[glc]

Make a new folder, call it anything you want - F-Prot would be a very good name for it. Download the 3 zip files - put them wherever you can find them, it doesn't make any difference. Then unzip the 3 files, one at a time, in the order I specified - the main program first (f-prot.zip), followed by the 2 definition updates (sign.zip and macrdef.zip I believe). Unzip each of the 3 zip files into the ONE new folder you just made - all 3 of them into the SAME folder in the order specified. The easiest way to do this is drag the zip file into the folder with the RIGHT mouse button and select Winzip - Extract To Here. If Winzip prompts you to overwrite, say YES to ALL. You will now have a fully updated copy of F-Prot in that ONE folder, and you can make your 3 floppy disks as directed.

[Explicit]

I have tried with new disks, and followed exactly what you said, when doing the disk, and writing "F-Prot /LOADDEF" without quotations after when it has A:\>

This is how it looks:

Starting...


A:\>

A:\>F-Prot /LOADDEF

Data error reading drive A
Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?

I put the switch up so there's a hole, and I put in boot disk in first than put the first disk in. No work.

[glc]

Put the 3 disks back into the machine you made them in and look at them with windows explorer - are the specified files there?

You may have a bad floppy drive in one of the machines. You also may be having the known XP floppy incompatibility issue.

Try copying the 3 floppies onto the hard drive - do it like this:

Boot with the write protected boot disk. At the A prompt, type:

c: (enter)
md f-prot (enter)
cd f-prot (enter)

You will be at a C:\f-prot> prompt.

Remove the boot floppy and put the first disk in.

copy a:\*.* (enter)

If it copies successfully, remove it, put the next one in, and copy it using the same command - and repeat for the third one. Remove the last floppy and type F-PROT.

[Explicit]

I got to the part where it says:

C:F-Prot>copy a:\*.*
a:\F-PROT.EXE

Data error reading drive A
Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?

Do the disks need to be empty? Or have the files in it? I tried it with the file in it.

[glc]

You have a problem with one of your floppy drives. It sounds like you are doing it right.

[Explicit]

So I need to use a empty disk and than try copying it?

[glc]

How do you copy something from an empty disk?

Or are you asking what to copy the files onto in the first place? 3 clean, freshly formatted and verified floppies. I'm suggesting that one of your floppy *drives* may not be 100%.

[Explicit]

What I mean is:

I put in the boot disk with the F-Prot.Exe
than after I put in an empty Floppy and than copy *.*? Cause when I did a empty one it worked.