Windows XP Freezes

[nokillmonkeys]

Hi! I'm having a bit of trouble with Windows XP...

I installed a program, and it required a restart. I restarted the computer as it asked. When Windows XP booted back up, processes loaded, by I could not click on anything. There was a constant hour-glass. This has happened to me once before, so I restarted the computer, and booted into Safe Mode.

I proceeded to scan the entire hard drive with Spybot Search and Destroy, Sophos Anti-Rootkit, and A Squared Free. I fixed the problems that they had detected. This had solved my problem the first time this had happened, so I was expecting it to be fixed this time too. I rebooted, but this time, the problem was not fixed.

I proceeded to boot into Safe Mode again, but it won't boot into Safe Mode! it hangs at loading the list of files. I've tried entwering with and without Networking.

So, what could my problem be, and how would I go about fixing it?

[MrBeatnik]

What file does it hang at when you go into safe mode?

You could try running a repair from the XP disk.

[nokillmonkeys]

I've managed to get it into Safe Mode. I've also managed to get XP to not have a continuous hour-glass. Now, my problem is that when I double click on a file or folder, nothing happens. When I press Windows Key + R or Alt + Ctrl + Del, nothing happens.

It all works in Safe Mode, but not normal mode.

[MrBeatnik]

Run various antispyware and antivirus checks in safe mode or roll back to a previous setting using SYSTEM RESTORE. Sounds like something loaded in normal Windows (not safe mode) is causing issues. Could be a service or something.

You can also run MSCONFIG from safe mode, and check what is loaded at startup. There may be something suspicious in there that you can remove. In practice, I try and kepe the startup section as clean as possible to keep the machine fast.