Won't boot windows after deleting sysformat.exe

I followed McAfee instructions for getting rid of Bagle virus. Deleted sysformat.exe from H_key_current_user\software\microsoft\Current Version\Run. Now it will only give the prompt C:\Windows> on a black screen. It will restart in safe mode. HELP!!

 

Have you tried "Last Known Good Configuration" or System Restore if you have those options?

What is your operating system?

You also have the Recovery Console as a last resort if you are using XP.

 

I'm using windows 98. I don't think I have a last good configuration option choice. I am looking for the recovery disk but we've moved twice since buying the machine. I downloaded stinger and carried it to my machine last night. Found 176 files and deleted them related to W32bagel variants. Lots of "shar" files created/infected.

Any other suggestions you have would really be appreciated.

 

Try booting with 'step by step confirmation' and see if there's any files it can't find. The first time through, say 'yes' to everything, as that's what it would normally do.
On subsequent tries, try saying 'no' to processing 'autoexec.bat' and/or 'sys.ini' & see if that makes a difference.
If you're able to boot normally by skipping one of those two files, open it up in Windows & see if there's a line in it that says 'bootgui=0' or something along those lines. It sorta sounds like it's set to boot without the GUI.

 

knrfritz, if you are in DOS seeing c:\windows , then trying typing exit then enter and see if that helps.

Also, if it restarts in Safe Mode, can you restore the deleted files from the Recycle Bin?