Laptop wont boot up !

Philistine

I let my niece use my laptop for a school project and as a thankyou she "cleaned up" the MY Documents folder by putting all the system files into a folder. Now when I try to start my laptop I get the following message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
<windows root>\system32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file.

So far I have tried booting up using all the options in the Windows Advanced Options Menu (safe mode, last good configuration etc...) and even made a restore disk using a PC in work with same OS, WinXP Pro, but none worked.

Any ideas? Is it a lost cause?
Any advice appreciated. Thanks

ActorSeeksJob

Have come across this before, should be able to fix it ok. Read post #21 in this link and try that
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Requesting-help-regarding-winh32-exe-infection-t172837.html&pid=1072261&st=15

Philistine

Thanks a million ActorSeeksJob. I followed the instructions on the link you supplied and it worked. All files and programs intact
Now to back-up all my files to prevent any future scarey moments!

Thanks again!

buildabong

Best thing to do in future, before "letters others loose" on your laptop is create a new user in CONTROL PANEL and choose restricted user.
This way they can login and use all of the features but not modify or delete anything.
My 2cents worth

Philistine

Good advice, well worth the 2 cents:)