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Because of a virus on a USB flash drive, my computer crashed. I then formatted my partition and installed Windows XP SP3. I tried it three times, but it still doesn't boot.

I can go to into Safe Mode and see that Windows has been installed there. But when I try to start Windows normally, it gets as far as the first black screen with a Windows Icon, and then stop at a black screen.

Is there any solution for this, for example by going into Safe Mode?
Is it possible that the virus still exists?
If I install an antivirus software in Safe Mode, would that help?

slhck
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Nickool
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1 Answers1

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First. If you want a good installation, make a copy of important docs, pictures etc, then perform a good reinstallation of the OS. Boot from CD, remove all partitions and make one (system) of desired size. Format it using NTFS ("normal" not "quick").

After reinstallation, do not plug in the internet cable and any other of your USB devices. Take a 100% clean USB drive & system and install all necessary drivers & Microsoft Security Essentials.

Make all patches & updates of the OS (approx. 300mb + 3 reboots), then create a system restore point. It would be perfect if you could make an image of the system disk (for example Acronis True Image, Symantec Ghost).

Download Panda USB Vaccine & heal all suspicious flash drives and then make a full scan of them using Microsoft Security Essentials.

In safe mode you can also try Combofix.

Nifle
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Adam RichardSon
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