lost control of pc

[Tifa's Real Lover(really]

my friends computer is messed up

she cant open files, programs, tabs, (she can still go on the internet though)

she cant run a virus scan because the virus wont let her open the program, before she could and it said nothing was wrong


is there anything my friend can do?

[Momiji]

Can she move files? If so, have her put her files on an external and nuke the HD-- at least, that's the simplest method.

<!-- I had to try hard to avoid a 'delete SYSTEM32' comment... -->

[Crimson]

Has she tried booting in Safe Mode and then tried opening anything?


If she really cant DO anything, then the only option is to backup the files and re-format.

[Flying Mullet]

Has she tried booting in Safe Mode and then tried opening anything?
This is my first thought as well. Run the OS in Safe Mode and try to run the virus scan.

[Mirage]

Failing that, try starting with a Live-CD and see if you can do stuff there. If yes, which I suspect is the case, copy out the files she deem important, then reinstall the OS.

[Tifa's Real Lover(really]

shes afraid the virus will attach itself to the files while shes backing them up

she says the virus infected system32 files and run32.dll

[Samuraid]

Simplest solution is purchasing a good recent anti-virus program like Norton 2009 or Kaspersky 2009, booting off the install CD, and using that to remove any virus material on the computer. Then, after the viruses are removed, get rid of whatever antivirus program was on the computer previously and install the newly-acquired software. The computer will probably run more quickly than it did (given that both scanners mentioned above are very fast and don't use very much system resources).