Need Help Recovering Data. Comp Freezing

[BrockLanders]

Greetings,
My computer knowledge is very limited and I will be very grateful for any assistance in recovering files from my computer.
I have an older computer which has recently been giving me tons of problems. I have a Sony Vaio desktop PCV RS 420 with a newer hard drive (listed as Maxtor 6L250RO when asked to "select boot device"). It is XP with the service Pack 2. My problems began about a week ago when my computer seemed to be running multiple applications at the same time. I could hear the computer processing and the cursor was very choppy when I'd move it. I tried to run ComboFix to see if I had some type of virus and ComboFix would freeze up. I shut my computer down and let it sit for the night. The next day when I logged onto the internet, every website I would go to the text was red and there was a warning at the top of my browser saying I had a virus. Whenever I would type in anything about virus protection the page would not load. I did a google search of my problem and saw that someone had a similar problem and used a Virus Protection program I had never heard of. Sadly, I can't for the life of me remember what it was. It was three letters and had the picture of a futuristic robot during install. (I'm sure that doesn't help anyone. I know it was not AVG). I ran the Malware Anti-Virus program and the Ad-Aware program that I already had (separately) and rebooted. The cursor was still choppy and my computer was running VERY slow. It took about 25 minutes for "add Delete programs " to load. I was hoping to delete the aforementioned unknown Virus protection program from my computer. (my friend said that sometimes virus protection programs will clash and create all kinds of problems... possibly my problem). Finally I tried to bring up my task manager but I got a little warning box telling me the "task manager has been disabled". And that was pretty much the last thing I saw on my desktop.

Anyway, what's happening now is a whole lot of nothing. I am UNABLE to do anything on my computer. I CANNOT get safe mode up and running either. When I start my computer I tap F8 repeatedly and am given three options to choose from:


Microsoft Windows Recovery Console
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
and "hit F8 for more options"

when I bring up the more options screen I have 11 options. I have tried most to no avail.

Safe Mode (tried)
Safe Mode w/ Networking (tried)
Safe Mode w/ command prompt (tried)

Enable boot logging (did not try... wasn't sure what would happen)
Enable VGA mode (tried)
Last known good configuration (tried)
Directory Services Restore (did not try)
Debugging Mode (did not try)
Disable auto restart (did not try)

Start windows normally(tried)
Reboot (tried)

So basically what happens when I try the "safe mode" options are a blackscreen full of codes will run for about 45 seconds and then I will get a blackscreen that says safe mode in the four corners and at the top it says Microsoft windows
(build 2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.080814-1223.service pack 2)

this screen will appear for about 10 seconds until the cursor turns into the hour glass and brings up my "Windows Login Page"
Here, I am given the option to login as Admin or myself. Neither option will load. They both briefly say "loading personal settings" and immediately log back out.

Now, if I don't try the safe mode options and just let it run when it says "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" it will run till it gets to my old desktop but no icons or task bar load. Here the cursor will move but I have nothing to click and can't bring up a task manager or anything. If I let it sit for like 10 minutes it just goes back to the login page where the cycle just starts all over again.

Just to see if it would work I popped in my Recovery DVD that came with the computer. I CAN get this to run. My first option is whether or not I want to restore my C drive to factory settings while leaving my D drive in tact. Now I am okay to do this as a last resort. I don't have very much on the C drive that's not backed up. My photos and documents are kept on my D drive.

Ideally, I'd love to get my D drive up so I can burn those files on to a DVD and then use that recovery DVD to completely restore the computer.

Thank you in advance to anyone who might be able to help me.

 

[eyeCpc]

Assuming the current primary is infested with bugs! some of the files you are trying to save from the OS drive may have been infected with whatever if that's what you are seeing. But there's a few different options for recovering files just the same when the OS on a drive won't load.

One quick look will see a few good free data recovery freewares or a shareware of a good software like Active Undelete. The other option that comes to mind is booting from a live for cd Linux distro like ubuntu on a cd-r or a Knoppix live dvd to copy files from one drive to the next while booting from the live distro uneffected by any virus or malware on the OS drive.

The second problem could be seen later when handling any files contaminated and seeing a fresh copy of Windows polluted all over again. Once a clean copy is on sweep the second drive with a few good antivirus and antimalware programs before copying anything back from there.

 

[dareola2002]

I would I get a virus software?

Here in my country Nigeria, there are a lot of havoc to most of our software as a result of economy problem. will it be possible to have your agent here in Nigeria.

 

[wol-va-rine]

I would I get a virus software?

Here in my country Nigeria, there are a lot of havoc to most of our software as a result of economy problem. will it be possible to have your agent here in Nigeria.

what agent are you talking about...?

anyway, to the OP, I think the antivirus you're talking about is Nod32, if you want to take the exact same steps as the person did in the web page you were referencing (ie. use the same anti-virus) you should get a copy, it's one of the better anti-viruses...

 

[eyeCpc]

I would I get a virus software?

Here in my country Nigeria, there are a lot of havoc to most of our software as a result of economy problem. will it be possible to have your agent here in Nigeria.

What you would want there would be a free edition rather then the retail software pointed at. http://www.eset.com/products/ is where Nod32 is part of the ESet software there.

For a strictly free antivirus program but limited to Englsh and a few other languages you can try out a few like Grisoft's AVG seen at http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe

You simply download direct from the web site there. There won't be any agents going to your location. You would have to find a legitimate software vendor locally for any retail products.

 

[rashida1]

Try out Stellar Phoenix Windows data recovery software.This partition recovery software supports recovery of lost, deleted or formatted data from Windows 7.0, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000.The software has GUI interface and very easy to use.For more details visit
http://www.file-recovery-software.net/

 

[eyeCpc]

One great free program formerly a shareware for backing up an entire hard drve then restoring files from a backup program is called Macrium Reflect found at http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Once you've made a complete backup and have a new working copy of Windows running you can restore all of your files from the backup. It works quite a bit faster then the trial for Acronis and others.