A quick read of a few other forums seems to suggest that its something going around at the moment, do know what actual virus it is but the moral of the story is that you might be able to boot into safe mode and clean the virus but its more effort than its worth.

Backup and re-install.

You don't need to do the full repair or reinstall, I just fixed this problem. I also got the rundll error after fixing the userinit.exe problem. Install and run a full spybot s&d scan pre-startup. Run a full AV scan after this.

Check for any processes that shouldn't be running, in task manager and also in msconfig/startup. Check the registry settings for the userinit.exe

hklm/software/microsoft/windows nt/current version/winlogon

it should have value c:\windows\system32\userinit.exe,

After doing all this (I had about 3 unknown processes starting up) after a reboot the Rundll error was gone.

I've had mixed success fixing this at work
f***ing spyware and malware s***e...

Copy both "C:\Winodws\system32\userinit.exe" + "C:\Winodws\system32\user.exe" from a known good same working version of windows (XP Home to XP Home, XP Pro to XP Pro)
Boot up via a PE disc or some other method of looking at the filestystem
Copy and or replace the above files into the munted Windows installation and reboot

Usually works tho on other occasions, it's screwed right royal and needs a Repair installation.
^ As Mass has also said. Check the value within the registry and edit it so that it only has "c:\windows\system32\userinit.exe" and nothing else

Good Luck :)

I was just about to give up on this crap frigin virus and do a complete reinstall when after hours searching google I came across a program called Uniblue Registry Booster 2. Just do a complete scan and and watch all the viruses pop in your Registry then reboot and bingo that s*** virus is gone forever and you once again have control of your computer again. This virus infected one of my other computers on my network and had to be reformated and i thought this was going to be number 2, but thanks to Reg Boost, problem solved. I tried Spybot , Adaware and just about every other spyware program out there and this is the only one that fixed userinit.exe error. The people who implanted this code need flogging with a rusty rabbit trap. Scumbags.

PS. You need the full version of Reg Boost 2 to remove the viruses. It comes as a stand alone program or you can get the Uniblue Power Suite which includes Regitry Booster 2, Speed Up My Pc and Spy Eraser. I use the Power Suite and all my computers are running like a dream. Hope this can help everyone who is infected with this s***.

haha dude you got scammed ^ 95% of the time programs like that claim you have a virus/ spyware when you infact dont and say to remove them you have to pay for the program.

all you need is spybot S&D and AVG.

You assume he actually bought the program and isnt advertising it.

heyyy guys, am tottaly distressed,,, someone help!! lol

i started off with some userit.exe probs, took Mass's advice n somehow managed to get my icons back on d desktop... however, after running spybot scan i'm recieving endless error messages on ' bad image' n ' check against installation diskette'... :(((
any advice?

I love it when chicks say jackass

why's that infi?

I'd say use a boot disk and have a look at what is starting up

Hiren's Boot CD over the years has been a god send.

Process Explorer and Autoruns are alos good tools.

hey minxy... did u get ur problem solved? i cant seem to solve mine :'(

am stuck with 100's of error msgs

"the application or DLL C:/ WINDOWS/system32__c00C7 0D.dat is not a valid windows image. please check this against your installation diskette"

Just.
Format.

I just did the Run explorer.exe (from c:\windows\explorer.exe thing and that brought my desktop back. Then I noticed I couldn't access command prompt or add remove programs etc, so I installed avg (I'd just got the computer, so I had no virus protection on it yet) ran a whole computer scan and that fixed it.

format? :(((

thanx, minxy... yea i just spoke to this guy and he asked me to download AVG as that should fix d problem.... i reallllllyyyyhope it works!!