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#11
Try running a bootable malware scanner, such as F-Secure.
Bootable huh? I went to the F Secure website, and all that I found was a trial installation of the program, that was to install in the OS, not a CD or floppy. Where do I find a bootable version?
Okay, I found the bootable version, but one thing I noted in the instructions was that it renames any infected files that it finds, and might cause the OS to be unbootable afterward. Maybe it's six of one or half dozen of the other, but I don't like the idea.
As I explained previously, the OS in question is XP MCE.
Just read whatever log it gives carefully. If it's renaming them, instead of deleting them, it means it has the intention that you restore whatever file it renamed, if they are clean.
Make a note of what files it renames, and if you can't boot, rename the files with the command prompt.
Not knowing where it might put a log, nor how to rename the files, if I couldn't boot, I decided to run a couple of online AV scanners instead. They found nothing of importance, except 4 application files in my download archive. bit they shouldn't have had anything to do with the problem. After finding that things seemed to work okay, when booted into safe mode, I ran another restore to a few days earlier. Rebooting back to my user account, I found that things seemed to be back as they should be, but I will reserve judgment on that for a while.
I still have no idea of what went wrong, except that I noticed that the letter ID for my download archive had changed from D: to O: I changed that back in Disk Management, but rebooting again, after reconnecting the external case, I found D: back to O: again...quirky!