Windows loads wallpaper then hangs

[Daewood]

My windows install has been running fine (no virii or spyware for months) up until today I turn on my computer and windows loads all the way to where I login and my wallpaper appears then it just stops loading stuff... It's still responsive and I can still open the CTRL ALT DEL panel...

Any ideas as to what I can do to find out what is hanging it up or what could be wrong with it?

Even safe mode does it... What do I do?

I can't restore cause I turned that off due to virii that wouldn't stop putting itself in the restore point folders.

Anything I can do short of reformatting? I have so much stuff on there that I absolutely need for work (yes yes I know should have backed it up but I didn't) and can't lose it. :bang head

[TranceBear]

My windows install has been running fine (no virii or spyware for months) up until today I turn on my computer and windows loads all the way to where I login and my wallpaper appears then it just stops loading stuff... It's still responsive and I can still open the CTRL ALT DEL panel...

Any ideas as to what I can do to find out what is hanging it up or what could be wrong with it?

Even safe mode does it... What do I do?

I can't restore cause I turned that off due to virii that wouldn't stop putting itself in the restore point folders.

Anything I can do short of reformatting? I have so much stuff on there that I absolutely need for work (yes yes I know should have backed it up but I didn't) and can't lose it. :bang head

**Edit** I dropped my over clock back to normal and now it's coming up with a "NTLDR is missing press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"
What does that mean? I've had it a few times... is that just windows corrupted... what can I do to fix it without formatting

Every time this error comes up "NTLDR is missing press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart" it is time to wipe and re-install. Sorry bud. Do you have a second drive you can install Windows on and get the info that way?

[Daewood]

actually I figured it out... that wasn't the problem... to reset my overclock I reloaded setup defaults and that wipped out the boot from my s-ata drive... but I got it to boot into windows now...

Is there a way to save my registry keys and all my personalization in windows so that when I reinstall it I can just put it back to the way it was?

[Captain Newbie]

actually I figured it out... that wasn't the problem... to reset my overclock I reloaded setup defaults and that wipped out the boot from my s-ata drive... but I got it to boot into windows now...

Is there a way to save my registry keys and all my personalization in windows so that when I reinstall it I can just put it back to the way it was?
Not advised. If you caught something, you'd potentially be retaining the crudware you caught.

[Daewood]

I didn't catch anything... My overclock corrupted it

where do I find I registry keys so I can use my start menu layout without reinstalling my programs.