Member Avatar for Siberian

I fell pray to a nasty malware\trojan that cripped my computer, whereas when I logged onto Windows, whether it was a standard account or an administrator account, all I got was a blank screen, no icons, no desktop. To make matters worse, I was getting help on another forum; supposedly this person was suppose to know how to fix this issue, they have made it worse, by doing registry key edits, whereas now, I can log into my administrator account, with a blank desktop, but my standard account logs in, and after a few seconds, logs back out, automatically, not the case before I listened to this other person who informed me they were knowledgable and would fix my problem.

Can this be fixed, I don't have a recent backup, I hope I can fix this, I've read it's possible, well now this other person has made things worse.

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A short, practical diagnosis and next steps tied to the thread entries from , and :

A blank desktop (no Start menu, icons or taskbar) or a user that logs off immediately are classic Winlogon/shell problems — not just “mystery malware” behaviour. Two common causes are: the shell/userinit values that start Explorer or a missing/default membership in the local Users group (which prevents the standard token from launching Explorer). Boot to Safe Mode (or Recovery Environment) and check those things first. (learn.microsoft.com)

If the machine logs on then immediately logs off, malware often altered the Winlogon keys or removed/replaced userinit.exe (histor examples: wsaupdater.exe). Safe recovery typically means using recovery media to restore a known-good userinit.exe and set the Userinit and Shell registry values back to C:\Windows\System32\userinit.exe and explorer.exe (backup the hive before changing anything). Microsoft documents this exact symptom and recovery approach. (learn.microsoft.com)

Priority: rescue data before fixing system files. As suggested, use trusted rescue media (Windows RE, a tested Macrium/Acronis rescue USB or a Linux live disk) to copy user folders to an external drive, then run offline scans and repairs. After files are safe, run image/repair tools and system-file repair commands (for example DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth then sfc /scannow) and perform an offline Defender scan or another reputable second-opinion scanner. (support.microsoft.com)

If remote help was involved and elevated access was given, assume the system may be compromised: change important passwords, preserve evidence if needed, and consider a clean reinstall after rescuing data. For long-term resilience follow ’s advice — image the system, keep a separate data partition or regular file backups, and keep a tested rescue USB. Avoid unsolicited remote support (tech‑support scams are common); never give access to unknown helpers. (ftc.gov)

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Member Avatar for rubberman

Did your computer come with a recovery partition? If so, you may be able to boot that and reinstall or repair the main system. If not, then you may be able to get a recovery disc from the system vendor. Barring those approaches, you will probably need to get a system disc from the system vendor. You will have to pay a nominal fee for that most likely, but that way you will be able to do a complete reinstallation, though note that will nuke all of your data. You can boot a live Linux CD/DVD and copy your data to an external drive first. Good luck!

Member Avatar for Siberian

I restored a backup from January, I lost some settings and programs I had installed in the past two month, I'm slowly getting things back and at the same time remembering partionally what I had done the past two months, as well as I will be having a more solid backup solution this week, regardless if malware deletes everything, I'll recover in no time.

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

I don't know how your system is partitioned but what I have done for years is (on a single disk system) to create a C and D partition where C is 60-70 gig (depending on how many apps you have installed), and D is the rest of the available space. I then relocate user folders (My Documents, etc) to D. I use disk imaging (Acronis, but Macrium Reflect is free and also excellent) on C after configuring my apps and installing all updates. That way when my OS goes south I only have to restore the last good image (data is already safe on D), apply all updates since the image was taken, then take a fresh image.

It also helps if you keep a log file (on D) with a list of all (or just major) changes to C so yoou can reapply those changes after restoring an image.

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