Getting into the Desktop

[Randy]

have a pretty interesting problem with a friend of mine laptop pc. it runs extremely slow I mean extremely slow . I tried to get into the desk top and was able to once using f8 (last known good config) and tried to get her picture off because I told her it probably best to reinstall her operating system. but while it ws slowly copying her pictures it went to blue screen saying software or hardware problem. Anyway i tried to use f8 to get into the desk top again and it won't let me with any of the option not safe mode or normal or last know good config. her reinstall partition is on her pc already so that is not a problem but I just trying to get her picture off before I wipe her drive clean . Any suggestions? Also what do you think is causing this pc to run so slowly .It runs extremely slow, i wonder if it might be memory problem or maybe drive is bad? any guess?

Thanks for any suggestion

[jerkto]

Could be a virus or other malware. Also wondering if it is overheating.

[DLeonR]

Sound more like virus or malware to me.

[mjc]

If you have access to a USB external drive, I would boot to a LiveCD (Knoppix) and use it and the external drive to copy the pictures...