startup, login, immediately get saving>shutdown

[cargod01]

I normally leave my system on 24/7.
I have Clamwin AV and always keep it & Spybot Search & Destroy/Teatimer
running.
When I left it, all IE windows & programs were closed.
It is behind a corporate firewall and remote access is disabled.
When I got to my machine today, it was at the welcome/login screen.
I don't have it set to go to the welcome screen after screensaver/standby.
When I logged in, it immediately started shutdown, "windows is saving your
settings..."
Every time I try to login, even in safe mode, it does the same.
Has anyone seen this?
Is there a fix other than a repair install?
XP Home+SP3, IE8, FF3, Core 2 duo/2GB

[Shenan Stanley]

cargod01 wrote:
> I normally leave my system on 24/7.
> I have Clamwin AV and always keep it & Spybot Search &
> Destroy/Teatimer running.
> When I left it, all IE windows & programs were closed.
> It is behind a corporate firewall and remote access is disabled.
> When I got to my machine today, it was at the welcome/login screen.
> I don't have it set to go to the welcome screen after
> screensaver/standby. When I logged in, it immediately started
> shutdown, "windows is saving your settings..."
> Every time I try to login, even in safe mode, it does the same.
> Has anyone seen this?
> Is there a fix other than a repair install?
> XP Home+SP3, IE8, FF3, Core 2 duo/2GB

Investigate how to replace/repair your userinit.exe file... Essentially -
you likely need to replace it with a good version.

Once you actually are able to logon again:

Fix your file/registry permissions...

Ignore the title and follow the sub-section under "Advanced Troubleshooting"
titled, "Method 1: Reset the registry and the file permissions"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949377
*will take time

Reboot and ...

Reboot and ...

Search your registry for %fystem and replace the "f" with an "s". May be
three or four matches, may be none. You may even have to take ownership
(even after doing the above) of the keys in order to make the change.

Download, install, run, update and perform a full scan (separately) with the
following two applications (freeware versions are the ones to use for this):

SuperAntiSpyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/

MalwareBytes
http://www.malwarebytes.com/

After performing a full scan with one and then the other and removing
whatever they both find completely, you may uninstall these products,
if you wish.

Download and run the MSRT manually:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

Reboot.

Download/Install the latest Windows Installer (for your OS):
( Windows XP 32-bit : WindowsXP-KB942288-v3-x86.exe )
http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/details.aspx?familyid=5A58B56F-60B6-4412-95B9-54D056D6F9F4&displaylang=en

Reboot.

and...

Download the latest version of the Windows Update agent from here (x86):
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
.... and save it to the root of your C:\ drive. After saving it to the root
of the C:\ drive, do the following:

Close all Internet Explorer windows and other applications.

Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemDrive%\windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe /WUFORCE
--> Click OK.

(If asked, select "Run.) --> Click on NEXT --> Select "I agree" and click on
NEXT --> When it finishes installing, click on "Finish"...

Reboot.

Then follow the instructions here:

How do I reset Windows Update components?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

Reboot.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

[Pegasus [MVP]]

"cargod01" > wrote in message
...
>I normally leave my system on 24/7.
> I have Clamwin AV and always keep it & Spybot Search & Destroy/Teatimer
> running.
> When I left it, all IE windows & programs were closed.
> It is behind a corporate firewall and remote access is disabled.
> When I got to my machine today, it was at the welcome/login screen.
> I don't have it set to go to the welcome screen after screensaver/standby.
> When I logged in, it immediately started shutdown, "windows is saving your
> settings..."
> Every time I try to login, even in safe mode, it does the same.
> Has anyone seen this?
> Is there a fix other than a repair install?
> XP Home+SP3, IE8, FF3, Core 2 duo/2GB

AFAIR, the message "Windows is saving your settings" starts a *logoff*
sequence. Does the machine really shut down or does it just log you off?

[Daave[_8_]]

cargod01 wrote:
> I normally leave my system on 24/7.
> I have Clamwin AV and always keep it & Spybot Search &
> Destroy/Teatimer running.

Clamwin is better than nothing and you can certainly scan files,
fodlers, or your entire C: drive with it. But "always running" in its
case doesn't really mean that much since it doesn't provide resident
protection. You'd be better off with AVG, Avast, or Avira Antivir. (Then
again, since you mention "corporate firewall" below, I will assume that
there are licensing issues. The ones I mentioned are permitted to be run
only on home PCs.)

> When I left it, all IE windows & programs were closed.
> It is behind a corporate firewall and remote access is disabled.
> When I got to my machine today, it was at the welcome/login screen.
> I don't have it set to go to the welcome screen after
> screensaver/standby. When I logged in, it immediately started
> shutdown, "windows is saving your settings..."
> Every time I try to login, even in safe mode, it does the same.
> Has anyone seen this?
> Is there a fix other than a repair install?
> XP Home+SP3, IE8, FF3, Core 2 duo/2GB

Have you tried running Windows System Restore yet?

[cargod01]

I found the answer.
Windows update screwed up, the file userinit.exe in system32 was missing.
apparantly windows update does that sometimes. the incompetent fools...

"cargod01" > wrote in message
...
>I normally leave my system on 24/7.
> I have Clamwin AV and always keep it & Spybot Search & Destroy/Teatimer
> running.
> When I left it, all IE windows & programs were closed.
> It is behind a corporate firewall and remote access is disabled.
> When I got to my machine today, it was at the welcome/login screen.
> I don't have it set to go to the welcome screen after screensaver/standby.
> When I logged in, it immediately started shutdown, "windows is saving your
> settings..."
> Every time I try to login, even in safe mode, it does the same.
> Has anyone seen this?
> Is there a fix other than a repair install?
> XP Home+SP3, IE8, FF3, Core 2 duo/2GB
>

[Pegasus [MVP]]

You may be jumping to conclusions. The userinit.exe caper is a favourite
target for many malware authors . . .


"cargod01" > wrote in message
...
>I found the answer.
> Windows update screwed up, the file userinit.exe in system32 was missing.
> apparantly windows update does that sometimes. the incompetent fools...
>
> "cargod01" > wrote in message
> ...
>>I normally leave my system on 24/7.
>> I have Clamwin AV and always keep it & Spybot Search & Destroy/Teatimer
>> running.
>> When I left it, all IE windows & programs were closed.
>> It is behind a corporate firewall and remote access is disabled.
>> When I got to my machine today, it was at the welcome/login screen.
>> I don't have it set to go to the welcome screen after
>> screensaver/standby.
>> When I logged in, it immediately started shutdown, "windows is saving
>> your settings..."
>> Every time I try to login, even in safe mode, it does the same.
>> Has anyone seen this?
>> Is there a fix other than a repair install?
>> XP Home+SP3, IE8, FF3, Core 2 duo/2GB
>>
>
>