Is there a way to manually repair a registry key?

Question

I have been infected with the XP Antirivus 2008 virus, and despite spending 4 days reading and re-reading about the manual removal, I just can't get rid of it. I don't have a real antivirus program other than AVG. I have downloaded both Spyware Doctor and Search and Destroy on the advice of other people in this forum and on the internet, but I can't buy either copies -- which means that I am manually deleting files.

Spyware Doctor has informed me that several of the registry keys require "repair." I am presuming that outright deleting them will be a bad idea.

So, is there something that I can do to manually repair the registry keys affected by the virus, or can I just delete them?

Registry value to be repaired: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Wi... NT\Current Versio\Winlogon, userinit

PS. Everytime I try to download CCleaner, Tuneup2008, etc... Please, don't recommend anymore downloads!!!

Answer 1

Don't mess with the registry if you don't fully understand what you are doing. You could make things much worse. You said no more downloads.

This will clean the infection if you want to try it.

Download, install, update, and run

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Run your scans from safe mode. Tap F8 during boot, to get there.

Once your system is clean, disable system restore, reboot and re-enable it.

Answer 2

Please do not mess with teh registry unless you know how, as a simple mistake can render Windows useless.

I know you said no download, but just one more.

Download Avast Home from http://www.avast.com

Install then set it to scan the computer when next restart, use option 2 to delete when found, after restarting, try installing Spybot SD, update and scan again, it wont clean the lot but will give you a head start.