My mother's computer will not load windows, it only gets far enough when you turn it on to give you this error message:

missing or corrupt
windows\system32\config\system

Could this be a virus? She asked for my help, but I'm almost as illiterate as she is when it comes to things like this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the official response to that error:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

What is the make and model of the computer?

Do you have a System Recovery CD?

I'm not sure of the model, but I can find out. It's an HP and she seems to have lost her recovery disk. Thanks for the link, I already found that earlier, but it hasn't helped any because of the missing disk. Also, it will not allow you to do the recovery from the hard drive, another error comes up. I was wondering if getting into safe mode would help anything, but I don't know how to get there anyway...

Safe Mode?

You can purchase your Recovery Disk(s) from HP. Usually they only charge shipping and handling etc.

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html