Vista crashes at startup login after running
I ran SpyBot on 2 different machines (HP & Toshiba). Both machines were running MS Vista HP edition. After running SpyBot and removing several threats the machines will only go as far startup login screen before the machines shut down. MS Startup Recovery program reports that it can detect no problems with startup and restoring to an earlier restore point does not fix the problem. Something was changed, but I can't figure out what it is.
Spybot is removing programs that cause login to fail
I have been picking my way through the files that SpyBot has identified as parts of SpywareStop and removing them selectively.
Removing the following causes Vista's standard login to fail:
- All registry entries
- All files
- a file named SpywareStop.srv.exe
Login worked after removal of these files:
SpywareStop on the web.lnk
SpywareStop.lnk (in various directories)
Ugh - temporary solution to login problem
A quick update. I managed to narrow down the problem (as detected by SpyBot S&D) to three files in the SpwareStop package. They are:
- SpywareStop.srv.exe
- TCL.dll
- ZLIB.dll
if these items are removed, Vista's normal logon process will die and the machine will turn off shortly after the login splash screen appears. My assumptions are based on SpyBot S&D results. There may be more to the picture such as files Spybot S&D may have missed, for example.
Now I have to figure out how to get rid of these - I suspect some time in the registry will be required.