Early last month, I followed the this multi-software process because booting up had started to become very slow when it worked, but often hung without starting up. It would often take multiple boots to get a successful one.
You'll need these free tools to complete this list.
Combofix
Malwarebytes
Spybot Search and Destroy
CCleaner
Avast!
- Turn off system restore
- Turn computer off. Turn it back on and hit F8 several times as it's booting up. If the Windows screen comes up you didn't get it - try again. If a screen comes up giving you options for Safe Mode you've done it correctly. Choose Safe Mode with Networking and press enter
- Run Combofix. You can press "Yes" to all of the options. If it asks you to restart go ahead and do it - just make sure you're there to press F8 to get it back into Safe Mode w/ Networking
- Run CCleaner (both Cleaner and Registry)
- Install, Update (it should update automatically after install) and run the FULL SCAN of Malwarebytes. Remove anything that might pop up (if it asks to you restart do the same as before)
- Run CCleaner (both Cleaner and Registry)
- Install, Update, and Run Spybot Search and Destroy. Remember to Immunize after updating!
- Run CCleaner (both Cleaner and Registry)
- Install, Update, and Run Avast!
- Run CCleaner (both Cleaner and Registry)
- You can optionally run HijackThis, RootRepeal. If you're not comfortable doing this skip this step.
- Install the HOSTS file
- Restart the computer into regular mode and observe if problem has been fixed.
I've done this process before. But this time, I now have no sound and my printer doesn't work. I did backup the registry both times in the process. So after having no sound, I restored the first back up. Unfortunately, doing so also restored the boot up issues. Is there a way to view the backup without automatically restoring it or restoring some, but not all of it? My computer uses Windows XP. I can't find my sound driver, but I do have the printer disk and when I try to reinstall, it gives me an error message about the spooler already being in process.
How can I know what registry things I should and should not restore?
