Windows Protection Error Win98......HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LennyEckert]

Hello, I am sorry if this has been covered before but I have just encountered a problem. I have Windows 98 running on my computer. It has run for 5 years without a problem until last night. I have recently installed McAfee personal firewall (AOL compatable) and AVG anti-virus. It ran fine after those installs except for the recurrent problem I have been having. My Norton Anti-Virus notified me that it repaired some viruses. I was not aware that it was set to repair since I have had it set at quarantine for years. Apparently when I updated my Norton with Systems Works, I left it in the repair mode which does not stop Trojans or worms (I have recently found out). After it said it repaired the viruses, I have had problems with the Windows tool bar. It freezes up and I cannot maximize, minimize, start or shut down. The desktop works fine but the only I could shut down or continue my work was to re-boot. Well, last night I rebooted and it went thru the initial DOS screens and then showed the "Windows 98 Logo screen. After that, the screen goes black and displays a sentence "Windows Protection Error. Please Restart Your Computer." When I restart, it says that it will start in "Safe Mode". I think that I have a virus so I talked to my brother and he gave me a hard drive to hook up as a slave so I can go into Safe Mode and copy my critical files to that hard drive. After I do that then I will Format C: and reload everything on my computer. Does this sound like I am correct or am I going thru this for nothing?
Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. I am a complete novice when it comes to technical stuff.

[HeartsRetreats]

Originally Posted by LennyEckert

Hello, I am sorry if this has been covered before but I have just encountered a problem. I have Windows 98 running on my computer. It has run for 5 years without a problem until last night. I have recently installed McAfee personal firewall (AOL compatable) and AVG anti-virus. It ran fine after those installs except for the recurrent problem I have been having. My Norton Anti-Virus notified me that it repaired some viruses. I was not aware that it was set to repair since I have had it set at quarantine for years. Apparently when I updated my Norton with Systems Works, I left it in the repair mode which does not stop Trojans or worms (I have recently found out). After it said it repaired the viruses, I have had problems with the Windows tool bar. It freezes up and I cannot maximize, minimize, start or shut down. The desktop works fine but the only I could shut down or continue my work was to re-boot. Well, last night I rebooted and it went thru the initial DOS screens and then showed the "Windows 98 Logo screen. After that, the screen goes black and displays a sentence "Windows Protection Error. Please Restart Your Computer." When I restart, it says that it will start in "Safe Mode". I think that I have a virus so I talked to my brother and he gave me a hard drive to hook up as a slave so I can go into Safe Mode and copy my critical files to that hard drive. After I do that then I will Format C: and reload everything on my computer. Does this sound like I am correct or am I going thru this for nothing?
Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. I am a complete novice when it comes to technical stuff.

that sounds like a good idea u have but i would take it ond step futher before u take any files of ur hard drive go on line with it as a slave and do a virus check on it www.trendmicro.com is a very good online scan ... u would not want to transfer any viruses back on ur drive would u

[LennyEckert]

Originally Posted by HeartsRetreats

that sounds like a good idea u have but i would take it ond step futher before u take any files of ur hard drive go on line with it as a slave and do a virus check on it www.trendmicro.com is a very good online scan ... u would not want to transfer any viruses back on ur drive would u

You are right. I would not want to reinfect it after formatting.
I just hope I am not going thru this for nothing. This is going to be a lot of work.

[Murf]

Whooooooooee.

As HeartsRetreats eludes to coping file from one drive to another you probably will copy the virus. You have to get rid of it.

Confused:

I have recently installed McAfee personal firewall (AOL compatable) and AVG anti-virus Was this Norton?

Can you get into SAFE MODE - run Norton Virus scan in SAFE MODE...

If you can't then do this:

Reboot with a Windows 98 boot disk, don't have one get it HERE

Get to the A:\> prompt then type the following:

c: (hit<enter>)
cd\windows\command(hit<enter>)
scanreg /restore (hit<enter>)

Select the previous registry you want to restore, and then press ENTER.NOTE: A properly working registry has the word "Started" next to the date.


See if it boots up, then run the virus scan.