... nuke the site from orbit, right? But that's so rarely an option for people I'm helping, unfortunately. Nobody has Windows reinstall discs, and they don't want to pay me for the time it takes...
A new, retail copy of Windows is not that expensive. Time and effort trying to fix stuff is not free.
I stopped trying to 'quick fix' this sort of thing years ago. In addition to effectively 'donating' my time for little money (or none), the user learned that it is 'inexpensive' to allow the machine to get messed up.
The wrong lesson is learned. If it was properly expensive to fix WIndows when (every time) this sort of problem happens, Windows would become/viewed as an 'expensive' OS choice.
If the laptop is aged, then a brand new computer with a brand new, not yet infected, copy of Windows might be the right answer.
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