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Can't get back into XP

We answer your questions.

By PC World staff / Tuesday, October 27 2009

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Getting the boot
My XP PC reboots itself when I try to switch users. Diagnostics tools informed me of missing Registry files and paths, which I fixed. I’ve also checked for viruses.
I don’t have a Windows disc to reinstall from.
D Stowe

It sounds as though your hard drive is about to fail – corrupt files and paths are often symptomatic of this. Unfortunately, since you don’t have your original Windows XP disc, your options are limited.

You don’t say whether you’ve got a recovery disc or can access a recovery partition on your PC. If you’ve got a recovery disc, you could install a new hard drive, install Windows on to it and then set the old hard drive as a slave device (if it’s an IDE drive) and recover your files from there.

Another option is to remove the drive and install it as a secondary drive in a friend’s PC and then recover the files.

Less demanding options include using Recuva (recuva.com), and buying a new drive and copy of Windows.

Time to wake up
How can I get my Vista PC to start up automatically at a specified time of the day? I don’t want to leave it in hibernation mode.
Dr A Macdonald

Your Bios should contain an option to start up your computer at a set time. The location of this option varies, but it can often be found under Power Management.

Trojan trouble
My PC recently fell victim to a Trojan. The only legacy appears to be the following error message at startup: ‘An exception occurred while trying to run c:\windows\system32\NvCpl.dll, NvStartup’. But I’m not aware of any actual fault.
Matthew Bayes

NvCpl.dll is a library file for your nVidia graphics card. Visit nvidia.com and download the latest drivers for your graphics card (details of this are listed under Desktop•Properties•Settings on your PC).

Uninstall the old drivers via the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet, then reboot the machine and install the new ones. It’s highly unlikely that any nVidia files were infected by the Trojan; they probably became corrupted during the cleanup.

Bad drivers
My laptop has about 20 missing or corrupt drivers. How do I fix them?
John Pinchon

Start by restoring your system to a point before the problems began. Select Start•All Programs•Accessories•System Tools•System Restore and follow the prompts.

If that works, sigh with relief – but consider the fact that you may have addressed only a symptom. Scan your hard drive with SuperAntiSpyware (superantispyware.com) or Malwarebytes (malwarebytes.org), or both, to make sure it isn’t infected. You might also want to run CCleaner (ccleaner.com), which can sweep away other, not intentionally malicious, problems.

But what if System Restore doesn’t do the trick? In that case:
1. Go to Device Manager: Select Start•Run, type devmgmt.msc and press Enter.
2. Uninstall all corrupted drivers, by right-clicking each one and selecting Uninstall.
3. Reboot the computer.

Windows will find and reinstall whatever
drivers it can. They won’t necessarily be the most up-to-date versions, and some will be generic
ones that can run your hardware only in limited ways. But your computer will
be working, and you’ll be able to install the other drivers from CDs, manufacturer websites, and so on.