hi guys, im not sure this is the right forum but anyway.
recently my pc has been very slow by which i mean utterly unusable. i have a lot of programs and stuff on it, most of which i dont know what theyre for. i got a virus through msn but after several unsuccesful attempts to get rid of it i left it because it only affected msn a bit. the pc was very slow BEFORE i got the virus. anyway it was very slow so i turned it off last night and, now my pc wont start up, when i switch it on, before the home screen comes on this message is displayed:
windows could not start because following file is missing or corrupt:
/windows/system32/config/system
you can attempt to repair this file by starting windows setup using the original setup cd-rom. select "r" to attempt to repair it.

i dont know what cd theyre talking about, i was going to do a recovery but it means that id lose all my files. some of which i REALLY dont want to get rid of if possible. i can go into setup but i dont know what to do from there. i pressed r and nothing happened.
any advice or anything is greatly appreciated

hey jpph,


do you have a windows Xp disk? if you do you can try to repair the file.

turn your computer on and hit f10 to go into the boot menu.
boot to your cd rom, you'll be going into windows bootdisk options.
when asked to. hit "R" to repair a copy of windows.
you'll then need to follow the instructions.


if you still get the same error after the repair then your hard drive might have crapped out on you. let us know!

no windows xp disk.
now what do i do?

you didnt keep the restore disk that came with your pc? your system restore disk should let run the windows repair.

hmmm

i dont think one came with it
il have a look around i supose.
all i remember is getting it and then switching it on. there was no xp disk or anything as far as i can remember.
hmmmmmm

what kind of computer do you have.