Windows will get stuck right before 'Welcome screen.' How to fix?

gregrocker said:

Were you ever able to boot the Win7 installer DVD or flash stick or System Repair CD to run Startup Repair repeatedly? What did it report? I would at least do this.

The Win7 DVD is provided in Step 5 of Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start to run the Repairs or Reinstall.

Which other steps did you complete?

I followed the steps with Startup Repair (like 6 times) and did not report any problems. I then proceeded with command prompt (following Jacee's idea) and typed "dir f:\enableadmin." That did not work either. So I saved the data (following your steps) and now I am ready to make a clean reinstall. Wouldn't it be easier for me since I have a partition that allows me to put the computer back to factory settings (Toshiba Recovery Wizard, I believe it's called)? Can I just use that method?

I'd do the cleanup after using the Toshiba Recovery option, right? I'll do it the easier way because I have a lot of work to do with it and I'm giving my cousin back her computer tomorrow morning. Thanks for your help, by the way.

gregrocker said:

Yeah do the cleanup after running Recovery, mainly turning off all the Toshiba crapware at startup by establishing a Clean Boot as shown in Clean Up Factory Bloatware

Since you can get into Safe Mode I'd also read over Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 to check off all of the things that must be remembered to save before you wipe out an installation. You may want to go back in and rescue more.

I'd also immediately uninstall whatever bloated AV they preinstalled and instead install Microsoft Security Essentials.

Let us know how Recovery works, and how it performs after you get it up and running.

Glad to help.

Does MSE work well with Malwarebytes PRO (I bought the pro version, totally worth it)? Also, what about SUPERAntiSpyware? I will do the recovery shortly. I'll report back once I'm done.

Edit: As soon as I did all the configurations, I opened a website and "WinZip Registry Optimizer" showed up. I feel like doing a Clean Reinstall. What do you suggest? Now there is something called "Snap.do" which (I think) are both viruses.

gregrocker said:

Yes, MSE works well with MB paid Real Time protection which I also recommend for those who get infected.

SuperAntiSpyware is a real spyware killer. It will let you know if you're infected at all with Spyware.

Keep a close eye also on Browser Add-Ons to not let anything in not absolutely needed to display a page you use.

A Clean Reinstall is better than getting a new PC in most cases considering how loaded with crap most new PC's are today. If you follow the steps you'll have an install better than 95% of PC users.

Due to the frustration caused by this incident, I decided to do a clean reinstall, and I trust your knowledge so I think it is a better option for me. Now, I read through it and most of the stuff is about Backup but I really don't need to because the computer doesn't have any programs at all (nor documents) and I just want a clean reinstall. For this I only need the ISO file burnt in a CD and the product key that's next to the battery right? By providing the product key, I don't need more information (as I could tell from what I read in your tutorial). Am I right?

gregrocker said:

Win7 is burned to a DVD, not CD. Use the ISO and tool in tutorial.

While much of the tutorial is about backup, there are many tools, methods and tips given to get a perfect install which you should follow if you want to get the best install possible.

Thanks, I meant DVD, sorry. I'm done! My computer is clean, fast, and it's awesome. Thanks a lot, I'll mark this thread as solved!:)