Windows 8.1 doesn't load past the welcome screen.

I have a 2 month old Dell Inspiron 660 running Windows 8.1.that came with windows 8 installed but I upgraded to 8.1 off the internet. Everything worked okay until I did a scan and cleaning with ccleaner. Pretty soon startup was very slow going from the Dell screen to the lock screen to the password screen to the windows welcome screen but windows would eventually load. Now the startup only goes to the welcome screen. That little circle of dots starts spinning and keeps on spinning but Windows never loads. Did I erase some registry files when I cleaned it? I got on Microsoft's live chat support who said they could fix it for 99 bucks but I don't have a dollar much less 99. Does anybody know how I could fix this for free myself?

I also wanted to know how load Dos from win 8.1 and how to boot win 8.1 in safe mode.

Any info or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks y'all!

Hi Breedlove, Welcome to Eight forums.

Found a link for you. Step By Step How to Solve Windows 8.1 and 8 Black Screen Issue upon boot | Virtualization blog

In short, you have to go to Safe mode and disable the graphic card and monitors and then reboot. If this resolves, fine. Else, update the drivers for your graphic card.

Everything worked okay until I did a scan and cleaning with ccleaner

Click to expand...

Try doing a System Restore from a date before, installing the app. the problem started.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4692-system-restore-how-do-windows-8-a.html