I initiated this question in the wrong place. Following is my response to questions posed back to me and the recommendation to post here. In short, I have corrupted my registry and lack knowledge to edit it back into a usable state.
"Back to your problem:
You can get a dos prompt in ME, but you need a boot disk.
Since you still have access to parts of Windows, go to Add/Remove Programs and then click the tab for startup disc."
I cannot get Add/Remove Programs to respond - error = Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item.
"But, you alluded to a boot disc earlier which gave you an error.
Was it a Win98 boot disk?"
No, I obtained a boot disk from bootdisk.com for Windows ME. It errored out upon bootup saying that the file was an invalid format.
"Also, it would help if you let us know how you "hosed" the registry.
Then, we may be able to help more."
Prepare to giggle. I went into the registry and located several files which I suspected might be the triggers for the viruses I've been unable to kill [a Swen variation, Javaabyte, mime-gen]. These are the keys listed in the "FixSwen" standalone utility. The syntax is;
HKCR, "batfile\shell\open\command",,0,"""%1"" %*"
HKCR, "comfile\shell\open\command",,0,"""%1"" %*"
HKCR, "exefile\shell\open\command",,0,"""%1"" %*"
HKCR, "piffile\shell\open\command",,0,"""%1"" %*"
HKCR, "regfile\shell\open\command",,0,"regedit.exe "%1""
HKCR, "scrfile\shell\open\command",,0,"""%1"" %*"
HKCR, "scrfile\shell\config\command",,0,"""%1"" %*"
I went into each key and added the word "virus" in front of the % sign thinking it would be easy to locate them quickly later if they weren't the virus culprits and I needed to change them back. It didn't occur to me I would hose the registry. My bad.
"Also, you say hosed access to all youir executable files.
That is not the case if you can still run some programs and access the internet."
Correct. This is where it painfully shows that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. In fact I have since discovered that if I do a search for a document [.doc] and double-click it, Word will indeed initiate with no problem. Also I can double-click a desk-top icon. However if I try to double-click in other areas I typically get the same error message as above.
For example I can access nothing from my control panel. This initially caused me to believe I had completely hosed all my .exe's. I also cannot right-click / properties from the "my computer" icon. I cannot call up regedit.
Another error example; when attempting to start IE [6.0] I get - Windows cannot find 'C:\\Windows\Explorer.exe'. You may have typed the name incorrectly in the Run dialog, or another open program cannot find a system file. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.
I'm afraid I'm not certain exactly what I have and haven't hosed.
"You also say: " I've tried the system restore disks from Compaq - more errors and failure to restore."
Well that is another and different problem entirely.
What were the error messages?
Why would it not restore?"
I attempted to take the disk recommendation; to create a system backup prior to doing a restore. In both attempts after about 30 minutes the error message appeared "unable to write to image file." I then had to escape out of that and re-boot. I don't know why this error was triggered. I stopped short of doing a format without backup.
"Do you want to do a format/restore or do you want to recover what you presently have?"
I'm trying to exhaust every option before doing a format/restore. I can re-install all my apps, but I stand to lose a significant volume of e-mails and potentially other data that I would much rather keep.
"Until you let us know, we can not help you without this info.[/QUOTE]"
I didn't want to drone on about these things until I thought it was appropriate to do so. I would truly appreciate any information you can offer.
thanks-kerri
