Black screen when logging into Windows 8.0 or Windows 8.1

I bought the laptop at Best Buy, whose Geek Squad told me the device had a newly discovered virus and it would cost a minimum of $200 to fix it.  I realize they are in business to make money, but I think it's unfair to attempt take advantage of the unsuspecting public.  Fortunately for me, I didn't fall for their suggestion.  I was even ready to buy a brand new copy of Windows 8.1 and do a fresh installation, which would have forced me to reinstall all my software!  A sincere and heartfelt thank you to everyone who posted solutions to resolve this malady.  To think what I was willing to spend on what took less than 15 minutes to resolve.

           

If u find Blank colored screen upon booting and an useless mouse pointer . press any alphabet key and then press backspace and type your password then press enter

Instead of doing all that just press Win-P, CursorUp, Enter.  E.g. switch from an assumed Extend configuration to Duplicate.  Switch to something else later the way you were if you want.

I had already resolved the problem when your e-mail arrived, but I uninstalled "Search Protect" anyway. It is surprising how many people were charged for the techies - I paid for something, but was told my money would be reimbursed if it didn't work - it didn't, and I eventually found the answer by reading everything that had been written. I then posted what I did on here. The hardest part of the Refresh for me was getting the computer back to Normal mode, instead of Safe Mode. I'd be very interested if anyone was to give instructions on how to do that.

I finally found the solution for the blank screen problem on booting for windows 8.1.If u find Blank colored screen upon booting and an useless mouse pointer . press any alphabet key and then press backspace and type your password then press enter (type the password on the blank screen itself .password will not be visible while typing). then ull log in .u cant find any icons just the wallpaper and the windows icon in the bottom. move the pointer to top right corner then click on devices then project there ull find the option "second screen only" click it then ull find all the icons reappear on desktop.Then again go to drives then project then select "PC screen only" . This fixed the problem on my pc and working fine now.

Do you have any of the Office programs in a location similar to this, if so perhaps you can create new shortcuts to them?

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15

My copy of Office did not come with a disk

http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/products/download-back-up-restore-microsoft-office-products-FX103427465.aspx

Get a backup of Office 2010

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/microsoft-office-2010-backup-FX101853122.aspx

Downloading or getting media for Office 2013 or Office 365

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2808266