Windows 2000 not booting up due to virus attack

Hello,

I received a call from a friend stating that his old Sony VAIO desktop running Win2K is refusing to boot up (due to possible virus attack). It gets stuck showing the Windows welcome screen…

I jokingly told him to just reformat the old clunker, but there are a few data files which currently reside on his Desktop that he wants to copy before doing that.

I’ll be paying him a visit this coming week, and would appreciate any thoughts as to how I can help him get those files on his Desktop.

Many thanks in advance.