i have a friend's computer.

gateway p4 running xp home. model number MFHTXSTL ELP 500S

they said before this happened they were DOWNLOADING a program called bearshare. i looked up problems with this and i could not FIND anything about this program that caused your computer to do this....

when i start it up it acts normal, no beeps. i'm not sure if there are ERROR messages cuz i can't remember how to view them. the computer gets to the 'last known good configuration' screen and the countdown begins. when the countdown to boot normally finishes nothing happens. the computer is just frozen.

i try again.....when i get to this screen i am able to use the arrow keys to highlight the different options. the computer freezes once i hit enter to choose ANY of the listed options.

any help is appreciated. i took computer classes a few years ago but i don't recall right off what i should do to troubleshoot.Do they have Windows XP CD?reinstall/repair windows xpBearshare program information (after a little research):
Bearshare is a P2P application, and is adware. (See site report: http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/bearshare.com ) (redirects your search queries to their site, instead of your default search)

It in itself is not a VIRUS. However, due to the nature of P2P clients, it may be possible that a virus was contracted while downloading something.