I had a fake xp defender virus, so I hooked my xp hdd up to my other computer and deleted it. I plugged the hdd back into it's normal computer, and when I go to open any program, a box comes up that either says the file cannot be found or it asks what program I'd like to open this with. For example, I might click firefox, and the os will come up with a list of programs to open it with, including firefox. I tried using a system restore point, but I can't from the desktop because I can only get as far as the control panel without having to choose a program to open with. I tried booting with safe mode, but after selecting safe-mode, the screen says all the files/pathways it's loading and freezes. I tried using msconfig to set a boot to safemode, but i need to specify what program to open it with.
I'm also quite sure I got the virus off of the system. When hooked up to my other computer, I scanned the drive with AVG, malware bytes, avast, Microsoft security security essentials, and ad-aware. It came up clean. I tried doing a system repair with the rescue disk and it went through just fine, but when it was done and I went to the desktop, the problem remained. I would just reinstall windows xp, but this is an oem model form 5 years ago and I'm not sure what the product key is. Any word on how to find it, or on how to solve my problem?
I'm also quite sure I got the virus off of the system. When hooked up to my other computer, I scanned the drive with AVG, malware bytes, avast, Microsoft security security essentials, and ad-aware. It came up clean. I tried doing a system repair with the rescue disk and it went through just fine, but when it was done and I went to the desktop, the problem remained. I would just reinstall windows xp, but this is an oem model form 5 years ago and I'm not sure what the product key is. Any word on how to find it, or on how to solve my problem?