Malicious script error?

I tryed to download a movie last night on my laptop and I think I got a virus intsead. what can i do?

If i wipe my harddrive would that work? and if so how do i do that?

currently on my laptop i can get up to the windows xp log in screen and when i try to load my desktop nothing happens. ( no icons pop up nor does the menu bar at the bottem. but i can see the background of my desktop.)

any help would be appretiated.

Sounds to me like your explorer.exe isn't fully loading. If you just re-install windows without formatting, it should boot up. Once it boots up I recommend using a variety of virus scanners, as well as some spy/adware scanners.

Here are some tools you can use after re-installing windows.

http://www.freeav.com - In my opinion the best AV I've ever used. Low resource usage, more effective than the "mainstream" AVs.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com - Download Ad-Aware SE. Spyware & adware detector and eliminator, best I've used.

Also do an online scan or two. If you go to google.com and search for "FRee online virus scan" you should get a few good results, like Pandasoft, for example.

Let me know how it works out.

NOTE: Wiping your harddrive would eliminate EVERYTHING, including your operating system. Re-installing can save you a few steps and a lot of lost data, assuming you do the proper scans afterward. It's a good idea to scan everything you download before using it, there are all kinds of malicious files you'd never expect to be hit with.

You may wish to download my Anti-Malware Professional package and Avast Anti-Virus. Everything there is free. :P

Next, follow the PC Maintenance Guide to help clean up your computer. If you still are having issues, let me know.

You can also start in SAFE MODE by pressing F8 at bootup and run virus program from there.

when you start up and your background is brought up press ctrl alt delete then go to file--> new task--> type "explorer.exe".

Yes, I was useing the task manager(ctrl+atl-delete) to try to fix the problem and was accessing the internet and stuff. Also explorer.exe was running the whole time but it was maxing out close to 100%.

I downloaded on of the free malware programs someone recommened but the computer wasn't able to locate it after it finished the download.

After a while of screwing around I ended up getting a fatal system error. As i asked before would wiping my computer fix this new problem? I understand it would erase all of my data.

Im in a very large pickle, plz help

Yes, it would fix the problem, but you can boot into Safe Mode with Networking and fix it easily and not lose any of your data.

It'd be much easier to follow the advice already given here, skipping NONE of the steps, to fix your problem.

But to answer your question: YES, it would fix your problem, but you'd also have to make sure you have a way to install your operating system again afterward.

Thankyou to everyone that helped me, ive gotten the problem undercontrol and my computer up and running again.

safe mode FTW! Thanks again, untill next time haha