OK now we're getting into scary territory for me!
OK.. If you have your XP disk.. put it in drive.. close out auto play
How do I close out Auto Play?
when you put your disk in.. Auto play will pop up the big blue window OR you will get a small window.. just click the X inthe corner to close either one of them out.
Open a command prompt
Would that be under the Start/Run option or do I do that some other way?
There isn't anything important on this machine and all the files I want to restore are backed up on a separate drive so I'm perfectly willing to reload Windows. I just don't know when I'll have half a day to do it!
Start>Run and type in SFC.EXE /SCANNOW will work just fine as well.. If you do it right, a little grey window will pop up and start scanning your system.. Usually takes about 35 to 40 min for a complete scan. if files in your XP are corrupt, it will take about an hour or so since it will auto repair the files.
Now if you can't get Admin controls back afte doing this, then XP is damaged beyond repair.. as such you will need to reinstall the OS..
Just remember that even if you have your programs on a separate drive.. if you reload the OS from scratch, then you will need to reinstall the software as well to get the registry key reinstalled so that your programs will function properly.
The backup is a good thing for all your saves and mods and such,,
Once you have your OS installed and you go to reinstall a different program (lets use OP for example).. You will want to rname the Taldren Software Inc folder to TSI or something like that before you install OP.. then turn off Anti-Virus, install OP, Patch, and then go inside your TSI folder and find the Starfleet Command Orion Pirates folder, right click, select copy, and then go to your new installation folder of OP which should be in a new Taldren Software Incorporated folder.. and inside it you will see Starfleet Command Orion Pirates as well.. just find an empty spot and right click and select Paste.. the computer will ask you a few times if you are sure.. always say yes..
When the copying is done, you just completely restored your program back to the state it was in prior to your Virus.
You can then delete the TSI folder completely to save Hard disk space..
You can do this for each of your programs so that you don't lose and of your settings or mods..
Hope that this helps.