grasshoppa

If I were to have this AVG on a disk could I run it without being able to access windows?And,if it was a virus that is causing my problem,would it alleviate my problem? How do I "back up the files in question"and what is LFN? Forgive all my quetions but I'm in over my head here. on a similar problem,in a forum,I saw something about renaming a win.** file before reinstalling,or extracting the files through dos,does any of these sound familiar?

When I load windows all I get is the picture on my desktop. I can't get into windows through safe mode either. I've tried to reinstall,but in the last few minutes of install I receive this message: An error occurred loading C:\windows\system\shdocvw.dll The file may not have been installed or it has been corrupted. With the same text I also see the same message for shdoc401.dll. I only see these when trying to reinstall,there are no messages upon restart,just a desktop with no icons. Without being able to get into windows I can't even run my antivirus. My win 98 install disc is actually stored on my computer under Windows\Win 98\setup, which I can access through dos.How do I fix,delete, or run a program to do this for me through dos? Or on the other hand am I looking in the wrong direction? Of course I'm writing from a dfferent computer on account that mine is currently in limbo.I really don't want to lose the info/personal files I've aquired over the years if there is a possible sollution. I come to you because I'm beyond my limits of computer knowledge,I eagerly await any of the sagely advice you can offer. Thankyou in advance, from a lowly amatuer.