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Unable to start up after virus problem; Startup Repair keeps going
Short version: I'm having problems starting up after a virus problem. I booted up into Startup Repair, and it's been "Attempting Repairs" for a couple hours now. What next?
I'm running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit on a MacPro through Bootcamp.
Backstory: I had been having problems with a virus that was occasionally redirecting Firefox to commercial sites. On a couple occasions I got popups trying to sell "Win 7 Security" or something bogus. (I did not try to install or register it, obviously.) I ran several different anti-virus programs, including AVG and MSE, but none seemed to stop the re-direction problem.
This morning I got another one of the bogus popups, and it was particularly assertive this time. MSE had been shut down and would not restart. I went into the Task Manager and saw "sik.exe", so I stopped the process, found the file (along with sfl.exe) and deleted it. Then all kinds of problems started to arise.
I could not restart MSE, so I uninstalled it and re-installed it successfully. It was in the process of scanning when it found a couple problems, cleaned them, and asked me to re-start Windows, which I did.
When I restarted, Windows recommended going into Startup Repair mode, which I did. After a minute or so, it asked if I wanted to do a System Restore, so I said Yes. Now it's been going a couple hours, stuck in "attempting repairs" while the blue bar moves left to right.
How long should I wait before trying to reboot, and what should I do when I reboot?
Thanks,
Mike
EDIT: Windows eventually started up normally - so never mind! The patience paid off. It did take a few hours though.
Last edited by mikenmar; 14 Dec 2011 at 15:27.