Member Avatar for fozbat

I just wanted to share some knowledge with you all as it took me a bit of time to uncover on the web and is quite astounding. I was getting invalid boot.ini messages on my PC and after restoring and rebooting several times, it kept disappearing. Suspected Virus, Trojan or Malware and used all the tools to scan but found nothing. Was rolling up my sleeves and preparing to get the serious loggers and tools out when I found a that concluded it was a bug with Ask.com Toolbar, so removed it and all is well again.

Unbelievable but important to share.

Foz

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Fest3er

Dani AI

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Good catch, — when boot.ini goes invalid or literally vanishes people naturally suspect malware. is also right to warn about toolbars: poorly written installers or uninstallers can change attributes or remove files. Below are focused diagnostic and recovery steps you can apply on an XP-era machine, plus a few prevention tips.

First check whether the file is present but hidden/marked system. Open a command prompt and run:

attrib c:\boot.ini

If it exists, make a safe copy before touching it:

copy c:\boot.ini c:\boot.ini.bak

If boot.ini is missing or corrupted, use the Windows XP Recovery Console (boot from the XP CD, press R). Typical repair sequence:

attrib -h -r -s c:\boot.ini
del c:\boot.ini
bootcfg /rebuild
fixboot
fixmbr    (use only if MBR is damaged; see caution below)
exit

bootcfg /rebuild will scan for Windows installations and let you add entries. A minimal valid boot.ini looks like:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

Prevention and cautions: uninstall suspect toolbars via Add/Remove Programs and check startup items with msconfig or Autoruns before reinstalling. Always back up boot.ini and create a System Restore point or recovery media first. Be careful with fixmbr on systems with nonstandard partitioning or dual-boot setups — it can break other boot loaders. If unsure, post the exact attrib and bootcfg output before running destructive commands.

Member Avatar for Fest3er

This is one reason I do not install or use toolbars that aren't built with the application. Not ask, not google, not yahoo, not almost any of them. I don't let Firefox install the Yahoo toolbar. The only one I would consider using might be Mailfoundry's ham/spam reporter in Outlook, a tool that performs a very simple and very valuable service if you use Mailfoundry's anti-spam systems or services.

I neither want nor need any of those things wiping my nose and butt every time I turn around, with or without the same tissue.

The thing to remember is that those toolbars are for their convenience, not yours.

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