safe mode not safe

[upup]

friend of mine gave me his son's laptop to remove dwwin. I installed malware and ran it in safe mode [xp] and then it was ok.
His son went on the net once, and now safemode comes up with just safemode logo and the screen is black. In normal windows, dwwin comes up.
He said if format, please backup.

Is it format time, or can I try something.

 

[Romito]

How about installing a fresh copy of XP while leaving the current installation intact and untouched and then you backup? After that you can wipe it clean and do a fresh install and scan the backed up data with Antimalware and AntiVirus before restoring it.

 

[upup]

How? It is a laptop with only C drive and cd rom.

 

[howardb]

Firstly, fix the son
Then reinstall XP from scratch - install to a folder other than c:\Windows.
Copy the user data across. Delete the previous version folders.

 

[upup]

You mean, do not format, just reinstall or repair.

 

[oldhat]

Easier option, boot a Linux live cd/usb - backup data & re-install XP.

 

[Valis]

Easier option, boot a Linux live cd/usb - backup data & re-install XP.

^ this

 

[bubbatentoe]

boot with XP CD,
do a "custom" install (don't repair anything)
install a new copy of XP into a folder called "windowz" (with a z) - this will leave the original "windows" (with an s) installation intact.

the laptop will then have two installations of XP.
one inside a folder called "windows" - not working
one inside a folder called "windowz" - working

when you switch on the laptop you'll get a boot menu with an option to start XP or XP, choose the 2nd (2nd from top) one.

go into explorer & delete the folder "windows".