Start Windows in Safe Mode

[Barquentine]

I have a virus on my PC which is stopiing me starting it in Safe Mode in order to run a scan with my AVG anti-virus software.

Anyone know a way round that?

thanks

[mjwman]

Hve you tried repeadly hitting one of the F keys on Start up? usually F5 8 or 11.

[Old_Geezer]

It is unusual for a virus to achieve that. Sure it's not corruption ?
Try booting from a system CD/DVD.

[Barquentine]

Yes I hit F8 repeatedly then select Start in safe Mode with Networking (I also tried the other Safe Mode options) - but it seems to override and open normally then freezes everythig again.

[cathfromsaron]

press control when you press enter?

[gina32]

mine also kept starting up in safe mode for some reason in teh end had to take it back to shop for them to sort it, had to do a factory restart, cant thing of the name for it, so it was as if id got a new pc.

[paddywak]

Have you any Idea just what virus it is? The reason I ask is because the other week my niece picked up a virus that locked her computer up freezing it with very official looking purporting to be from the Met saying they'd locked it for visiting inappropriate sites pay up or else. I googled this virus and found a site that gave an idiot proof guide to clearing it literally starting with step one switch. Not much good if you can't Icentify the virus but don't worry help is out there and somebody will come along soon to help you out.

[paddywak]

Please ignore the various grammatical and spelling mistakes I'm having an "off" day.

[Huderon]

Avira and Kapersky do rescue disks which are their scanners but run from CD. The Avira one can be found at http://www.avira.com/...antivir-rescue-system and the Kapersky one is at http://support.kasper...om/viruses/rescuedisk . Avira update theirs at least once a day, so there is no need to download any updates when it's running, and I imagine Kapersky do the same.

Whichever you go for, do the download on an uninfected machine, then burn to CD, boot the infected PC with the CD (you might need to change the boot sequence in your BIOS to do that) and run it.

Avira have two versions of their scanner for download, and ISO and and exe version. If you download the ISO version, you will need software which can burn it to a CD. If you download the exe one it includes some code to burn the CD, so double clicking it should burn it to CD for you.

Two things though. First there is no guarantee that either one will find whatever has infected your PC, and second there are some infections which will disable your ability to open, for example, Task Manager or it's equivalent in more recent Windows installations, even when you are logged on as the administrator. If that has happened, getting things reset is a bit of a pain, to put it mildly.

[galeck1947]

Download and run a free program called RKILL from a usb stick from outside your computer it will stop the malware from running so as your antvirus can run and remove the virus. You will have to download it from another computer that is not infected and transfer it to the usb stick so as to use it on your computer. It is worth a try.

[Barquentine]

Thanks for all the helpful answers. I've printed out step-by-step instructions from deletemalware.blogspot.co.uk which explains how to use the registry editor to delete this manually. It requires me to be in safe mode though, so I may need to follow Galeck's suggestion about RKILL first. I'll let you all know how I get on.

[Barquentine]

Galeck1947 - how do I run RKIL from a usb stick when the PC won't start in Safe Mode and reboots to the locked fake homepage?

[Barquentine]

I booted the PC from a recovery disc which allowed me in to run an AVG scan which removed the virus. All okay now. Thanks for all your help everybody. Much appreciated.