How to remove viruses from an inoperable OS (XP)?

I’ve never run into this problem, but my sister supposedly has a virus on her XP box, and I’m really not sure how to help her. The bootloader works fine, but upon selecting a user, does not display any icons or any sort of interface. Pressing the power button seems to call up the ‘shut down’ display on xp.

What virus, if any, might this be? What are some possible solutions that don’t involve me manually backing up and reinstalling everything? (I can run a live linux cd and mount the HD)
NOTE: there is NO anti-virus installed on this machine.

3 Responses to How to remove viruses from an inoperable OS (XP)?

  1. Try booting to safemode via the F8 key during startup.
    If you can choose SafeMode with Networking
    should be able to then boot to windows and browse for an antivirus/anit malware program and install and run it.

    If you see the same thing in SafeMode…..time to reinstall.

    http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?tag=mncol
    http://download.cnet.com/Spybot-Search-amp-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html?tag=mncol
    http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t246342.html
    http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/

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