Am I still infected?

[Adrian McNair]

Uh, I already ran ComboFix before you made that edit, sorry. It hasn't solved the problem but at least I was able to install the Home Recovery Console. From what I can tell it hasn't removed any files this time.

I can't find a boot.ini within the C: drive. There's only a boot.bak file now. What should I do now? Should I post the log (the forum's character restrictions prevented me from adding it to this post) and then run that fixes.bat file you just posted?

[Blade81]

Hi,

Do this part:
Open notepad and then copy and paste the bolded lines below into it. Go to File > save as and name the file fixes.bat, change the Save as type to all files and save it to your desktop.
type c:\boot.ini >logit.txt 2>&1
start logit.txt
del %0

Double-click on fixes.bat file to execute it. Notepad should open up. Post back its contents, please.

[Adrian McNair]

Here it is.

[boot loader]
timeout=2
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons
UnsupportedDebug="do not select this" /debug
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home" /fastdetect

[Blade81]

Hi,

Click start -> run write cmd.exe and press enter. Give following commands (press enter after each one):
attrib -r -s -h c:\boot.ini
exit

Then open c:\boot.ini in notepad and change bolded Home word in notepad to Professional:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home" /fastdetect

Save and close notepad. Then do the following:
Click start -> run write cmd.exe and press enter. Give following commands (press enter after each one):
attrib +r +s +h c:\boot.ini
exit


Open notepad and then copy and paste the bolded lines below into it. Go to File > save as and name the file fixes.bat, change the Save as type to all files and save it to your desktop.
type c:\boot.ini >logit.txt 2>&1
start logit.txt
del %0

Double-click on fixes.bat file to execute it. Notepad should open up. Post back its contents, please.

[Adrian McNair]

Double-click on fixes.bat file to execute it. Notepad should open up. Post back its contents, please.

[boot loader]
timeout=2
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons
UnsupportedDebug="do not select this" /debug
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

[Blade81]

Hi,

Run disk check on your hard drive by following instructions here.

[Adrian McNair]

Hi,

Run disk check on your hard drive by following instructions here.

Apologies for sounding like a broken record here but once again it didn't accomplish anything. Plus no bad sectors were found. I'm thinking that perhaps when I dealt with the virus some important registry files may have been lost and that's the reason for the slow-downs. Would re-installing Windows XP be a viable option?

[Blade81]

Hi,

If it's software caused slowdown then reinstall would likely work. If you decide to reinstall then you should back up important things first and then reformat & reinstall XP (remember to get all available updates after that).

[Adrian McNair]

Hi,

If it's software caused slowdown then reinstall would likely work. If you decide to reinstall then you should back up important things first and then reformat & reinstall XP (remember to get all available updates after that).

Hello,

Well, I'm happy to say that system performance is back to normal after the re-install. On that note I'd like to thank you for taking the time to assist me with my problems. Your assistance was invaluable in narrowing down the issue. Thank you.

[Blade81]

You're welcome and glad to hear that solved the issue