Trojan/explorer.exe issue and escalated to log on log off loop (HELP!)

I have just encountered a few trojans I found on Mcafee, It said I had 5, I removed 3 and rebooted to remove the other 2, it didnt work, tried many times, didnt work. Then I logged in and my desktop had gone, no wallpaper/icons/taskbar...nothing, borrowed my fathers to google problems and it seems a problem with the trojan affecting my explorer.exe.

I followed advice off tech sites and I did CTRL+ALT+DEL and typed in explorer.exe and it came back, but every time I logged on had to go through that process. So there must be a file error probably from trojan, I read somewhere it can corrupt explorer.exe. I looked and remembered one of the trojans I couldnt remove (rebooted and was still there, wouldnt delete) was called twext.exe and not sure of the other, but it wouldnt remove it, I read somewhere it recommended reloading explorer.exe from a working file (from another computer) which I haven’t yet done as do not know how really.

Then earlier this evening I logged on again to see about this and it automatically logged me off, everytime Id log in it would show my desktop background wallpaper then immediately (within seconds) log me back to welcome screen, constantly. Cannot log in. Even i safe mode.

I tried checking system in BIOS....working fine, did all the checks I could, tried safe mode access and same as before, logs me off immediately (it doesnt seem serious by what I’ve read and appears relatively easy to fix…though not by myself) So could you give me rough idea of what it might be and how to remove the Trojan and reinstall the explorer? Or would It need to reformat and reinstall (another option) what problems/fixes might be required with explorer.exe and log in log out loop. Want to know if its something I can do myself or not.

Also I put my reinstillation CD in and Drivers and tried to run them but nothing came up really, I would rather NOT reinstall but if I have to I guess Id just have to put up with it, but when I tried to fix using cd's nothing worked.

Can anyone help? Im on someone elses laptop here so sooner the better. I dont know much about computers so the simpler the better. PLEASE HELP!!

This should get you out of trouble ...
Logon/Logoff Loop fix ..... thinkinginpixels
http://thinkinginpixels.com/quick-fixes/fi...onlog-off-loop/

This fix will also replace explorer.exe with a new file.

Thanks for the link, I tried it but couldnt get past page 2, the safe mode was too fast, didnt see the screen with writing as it was faster than a blink. And cant log in still, logs me right back out, cannot do anything and soooooo stressed.

The machine with the problem ....
Are you using Windows XP ? And if so, what Service Pack do you have on the machine ... SP2 or SP3 ?

Edited by AustrAlien, 12 December 2009 - 01:44 AM.

Hi, Its Windows Media XP and Service Pack 3.
I emailed some tech people and they said to reinstall EVERYTHING, which is such a nightmare, but it wont log in at all now, luckily last week I backed my personal files/pics up (as if I KNEW this would happen....spooky) but seems they are all recommending a full reset, is that a good idea as the thought of having to reinstall everything is a nightmare, they said it could cost £30-70 whereas Dell would cost £39 and a 3month warranty of problems after that (latter seems best value for money) but dont know much about this really, Seems the trojan corrupted my userinit and explorer.exe....whatever that means..haha. So any advice is needed, Im not sure I can do it myself as read a lot so far and it loses me almost immediately, seems too complicated, so if I have to go get it fixed is full reinstallation the best bet?

I emailed some tech people and they said to reinstall EVERYTHING ............... they are all recommending a full reset

Perhaps I am being just a little unfair, but that seems to me to be the typical "tech support" answer to most problems they are faced with.

On the other hand, I am confident that the thinkinginpixels instructions will work for you, if you would just persist with them. The instructions are detailed and the tasks required are not all that difficult. I have had users respond with successful outcomes after just a few hours.

RE: the thinkinginpixels instruction pages
You wrote: "Windows Media XP and Service Pack 3"
That is good. That takes care of page 3.

Now for page 4.

Part 3 – Setting your computer to boot to CDs/DVDs
You’re going to need to set the computer that is not working to check for CDs/DVDs first. [If you know for a fact that your computer boots to CDs/DVDs first already, then you can skip this page completely]

Do you know already that your computer can boot to a CD? If so, move on to page 5.

If you need assistance with any step, please post with the details, so we can figure out what the problem may be.