On Windows 95 and 98 it would just be after the shut down menu. I have Windows 2000 professional and it isn't there. I can't figure out a way to do this. I can't just go to the prompt while running Windows because I need to delete stupid spyware that is normally in use when Windows is running (won't let me delete it). Is there a key I need to press at startup?

Press <F8> at boot-up and choose to go to the system command prompt only.

click on start, run and type cmd or command. That will get you a dos window. good luck jon

F8 as it boots up, but I can't recall if Win2K has the "command prompt only" option. There is no DOS underneath Win2k like there was in 95/98.

If there is no "command prompt" option, "Safe Mode" should hopefully work.

Tim.

Run your anti-spyware process (ad-aware, spybot, whatever) in safe mode - nothing much running then. Also a good time to clear out the temporary internet files and local history stuff...