Search Assistant Killed my Computer :banghead:

Unknown

All right, I had the evil spyware on my computer but it was removed by ad-aware. After removal I lost my network connection completely. I rebooted my machine and now can't login to any user profiles, admin or otherwise. Safe mode and last know good config doesn't work either. It tells me that I'm logging in, preparing settings, etc but one of two things occurs. If I attempt to login as the primary user (admin), my desktop image loads and nothing more. No task bar, no folders/files are visible and I can't access the task manager. If I login as any other user, I get the same "we're logging you in screen" and then it logs off automatically - sending me back to the user profile menu.
(OS - Windows XP Pro)

I am able to boot from the windows cd and access the recovery console. I've deleted the wsaupdate.exe file and copied the userinit.exe file from a functional system over to my c:\windows\system32\ directory. (This was suggested in another tread, elsewhere.)

This has consumed my days as of late. Does any one have a clue? Am I missing a critical file? Is one corrupted? Can I copy it from another machine also running win xp pro or is my only option to re-install windows? (Would like to avoid the latter if possible.)

Thank you in advance.

primesuspect

Instead of using the recovery console, you should do a repair install. Boot off the XP CD and choose "install windows" instead of choosing recovery console. When it looks for Windows XP previous installations, it will offer you the choice of doing a "repair install". Choose that. It will reinstall windows but preserve all your apps and everything.