Windows XP Explore isnt working

I'm working on someones computer and they had a ton of virus and trojans and so forth on the computer, reall messed the thing up good. I've gotten to the point were I get windows task manager up. From there I can run programs and so forth. I have to use Real Players media browser in order to get on the internet. Since explorer doesnt work I cant get to the start menu, all I have is the desktop wallpaper there isn't even a single icon. I've tryed everything to get explore to work (that I can think of). I've gone into the system.ini and placed shell=explore.exe but that didnt do anything. I've even tryed making it run on boot up and it still doesnt work. What else cand I do?

 

I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. Its not a name brand and I don't know the specs.

Also when I try to run it from task manager it pops up and says it can't be found.

 

try sfc /scannow from task manager.
Use cmd to see if you have explorer in windows folder.

 

Explorer is there I can see it. I'm try sfc /scannow. Thanks thats one thing I couldn't think of I hope it works.

 

Ok, but its not Brand name computer. The icons don't show up on the desktop because Explorer isnt working. But I'm sorry I don't know the specs. Its hard to find when your limited to certain things. I could find them out if its that important. Its XP Pro with a P4 thats about all I know.

Was the scan supose to tell me if it found something wrong? Cause I didn't see anything or missed it.

 

It may not if it is a registry problem,try another user.also check safe mode.
And does explorer not start when you try explorer.exe from taskmanager or cmd?

 

Explorer wont work in safe mode either. I tryed a differnt user and its the same. When I try explorer from task it tells me that it can't find it. Which I don't understand cause I clicked on it.

 

Does it do the same thing in 'Safe Mode'?

 

Thanks that fixed the problem. Now I just have to stop these popups.