Hey guys,

I'm not sure if this is a registry or virus problem, but I will do my best to EXPLAIN to you what happened.

A couple of days ago, I was trying to clean up my gaming PC. I gave it to my parents to replace their old PC while I went off to college. Unfortunately, my dad did not do a good job keep up with it. Using CCleaner, a program that cleans the registry (missing .dll, unused extensions, ActiveX and Class issues. I am sure you guys are aware of the program). It FOUND 400-odd problems, and I told it to fix them. Before it fixed, I backed up the registry. After the fix, everything appeared normal.

Then,

I uninstalled the free version of Avast, and installed McAfee enterprise edition, that my University gives to students. I figured that McAfee would be better software, so why not use it. I ran a scan, and about 10% of the way through, I check and see that it has found 314 detections. Soon after, then theme of Windows reverts to Windows CLASSIC (like Windows 98). I checked to see what happened, and I saw that McAfee found another detection, making 315 total detections. I tried to switch the theme back, and it said that I have to use the "Computer Management Tool" and TURN the service back on. I try to find the service, and I cannot find it.

So, I reboot, and when it's time to login, it tells me that I have "3 days left to active your windows product." So I ignore it, and when I log in, my desktop bar is gone. I can only see about 5pixels of the very top of it (it is STILL in windows 98 theme). When I finally manage to get it up, I click on the start button and try to do a system restore. It tells me "Your system is not protected. Please restart and try again." So, I restart in Safe-Mode, and got the same error.

I reboot, and login in normally, getting the same errors. I then restore the old registry file that backed up prior to the CCleaner action. I reboot, and got the same problem.

I have the OS re-installation disk if worst comes to worst. However, my dad does his taxes through TurboTax, and the files are on the HD. I tried to save them into my thumb drive, but it will not allow me to transfer them. I tired using Copy and Paste, Send To, and even the CMD promt. Nothing seems to work. I can however save Word and PowerPoint files by opening the program, and saving them to the thumbdrive. Excel will not open correctly, nor will TurboTax.

So I am in kinda of a dilemma. I need those tax files before I can reformat, and I have no idea how to get them.

Any thoughts??

Thanks so much for the help!Your best bet would be to remove your harddrive and slave it to another computer and recover your files. I would get a hdd emclosure from like Best Buy or another electronic retailer and install the hdd in that and hook it up to another computer even a laptop and then you can possibly transfer the files that way. I would also scan the files with the other computer to make sure they are not infected with the virus. Oooh that's sounds painful haha. I have another computer that I can try that with. My dad has an IT employee at work that can take a look at it, but I really dont want to bother him with non-work related issues.