white screen of near-death

my desktop has gone blank, with a "restore my active desktop" bar on it. not the first time i've ever seen it, but the first time i've ever seen it where clicking doesn't DO anything. (get "script error" when i do)

this has persisted for a few days now, thru reboots and thru AV/AM scans.

i can kill it quite easily by going into "properties" and reclicking on the desktop (BMP) which is highlit. but what exactly am i doing here? if it KNOWS that's the one, why can't it load it on its own?

any good page on what an "active desktop" even IS?! never quite grasped the concept.

 

Can you do a sfc /scannow through cmd prompt in safe mode if you can't do it in normal mode !