i am working on a computer and the persons computer rebooted and when it started back up it gave me the windows is not genuine. they have windows xp pro 2. then when i tried to restart it again thinking it was just some glitch the computer had no taskbar or start menu. it doesnt even say windows is not genuine anymore but still displays the same background. any idea what it could be? i have tried ctrl alt dlt and doing explorer in cmd.
Try to start in Safe Mode and try to somehow solve problem (ex. System Restore, rearming trial period of XP etc.)
just an update on the problem guys. i was doing some more digging and found out it was a rootkit causing the issue. so im just going to install a new op system .
yeah combofix (from bleepingcomputer.com) or most tools wont get it running like new OS. explorer shell gets rooted and those are symptoms.. for a second i thought it was bad hdd or ram