blank desktop

I was following a thread advice whilst trying to get rid of winlogonhook trojan. One of the steps was to open up Windows Task Manager and delete explorer.exe from the processes, which I did no problem. Then in another step, I had to open up Windows Task Manager again, go to File, New Task (Run...) and type in explorer.exe and my desktop would come back. It didn't!! Now I'm stuck with a blank desktop and desperate for some help that won't require me to have to re-install XP !
My system is as follows:

ASUS P5GHD1-VM mobo
Pentium4 630 3.2 GHz
Akasa Evo120 HSF
2 GB RAM
Maxtor 80GB + 200GB HDDs
nVidia GeForce 6600GT VGA card
400W P/S​

and I'm running Windows XP Pro .. or at least I was running Windows XP Pro until this happened!!!

 

Maybe this article will help but read it carefully:

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555363/en-us

 

Many thanks for the post ... I checked out that link but its slightly different from my situation. Perhaps I didn't give enough info in my first post (newbie!!) ... so I'll add a little more now ... hopefully I'll be able to get the whole story out eventually !!!
Basically the difference with that microsoft help page and my situation is that, not only do I not have desktop icons, but I also have no menu bars, and no right click menus. Everytime I have to load up Windows Task Manager and start explorer.exe from File, New Task (Run ...), and each time it opens in a separate window, and not as my usual desktop. All applis function perfectly but its a real pain to have no icons and no menus.
But thanks again for trying to help ... I appreciate it!

 

Press CTRL > ALT > DEL to bring up Task Manager. And click File, New Task (Run..) and enter regedit and click OK. This will run the registry editor. Now look for the below registry keys (navigate thru the registry). See if you have these listed.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\explorer.exe

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\iexplorer.exe

Steve

 

I have the same exact problem. And the only way you were able to get on the internet is running is from the Task Manager, right? For some reason when I type in explorer.exe, it shows up for like 0.1 seconds and then goes away. I don't know what the problem is. I ran ad-aware and of course it couldn't delete a few things, so then I ran Trend Micro. There were 48 infections to my computer and it couldn't delete 12 of them. So then I restored my computer to May 1st in safe mode and of course that didn't work. This is a pretty big problem.

 

OK ... I have just checked those Reg entries and I don't have either of them! I presume this is bad news for my system, but good news in that you can help me?

 

Hi Roche - well to be honest as soon as I read up on the winlogonhook trojan and the potential it offers to any hackers, I immediately disconnected that machine from the net!!! Lucky really that I have a second machine which is a bare bones machine just for the net! I say lucky, but that was a hard-learned lesson!!! The machine that is currently in trouble is my "play" machine - my bit of fun! Well, I'm stuck (for the moment) here in Japan whcih is not a lot of fun, and the one thing that they do have over here is cheap PC stuff!! The Japanese are always updating their things (in every walk of life) and so the 'old' stuff gets sold on for quite low prices!!! My fun!!
Anyway, I hope that this thread can help you too!

 

No, it's good news. They shouldn't be there. still looking

Steve

 

You both might try the suggestions in this thread, http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=77018 I really don't hold much hope for it, but you can try.

I would suggest that both of you try and follow the steps in the Malware forum, http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35 Do what steps you can and start a thread there for assistance.

I am just afraid that the spyware might hamper any fix available.

Steve

 

Matacumbie ... you are great!! Your name should be changed to Genius Geek or something similarly appropriate!! I just followed the first link that you posted (http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs.../nodesktop.reg) and it worked !!! I have my desktop back!! If it was possible I would send you much love!!! As it isn't, is there anything I can do to say thanks?

 

I am very surprised that one worked. Thank's will do just fine.

Good job.

Steve

 

Good job YOU !! I only followed ... perhaps I should change my tag to sheep boy or something!! Seriously though, you really helped me out and I'm purely grateful!! Thanks!

 

Now I ONLY have the winlogonhook trojan to deal with !!!!!!!!
Plus I have to switch forums to find out why my graphics card isn't working as I thought it would, and also to see if I can find a solution to a (separate) HDD problem I have, and then once all that is done I want to get some advice about overclocking another system I am building!!!!!
I started getting into computers only recently - I only built my first PC about 6 months ago (the one that you have just helped me resurrect) but its a whole lot of fun, isn't it? If you don't include the stress of everything going wrong before you find out why and fix it!!!!

 

You bet.

Steve

 

Didn't see your last post. I would still go thru the spyware tutorial and get help if you need it. That way you know you are working/troubleshooting on a clean system.

Steve

 

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/nodesktop.reg

Do I just run that in the Windows Task Manager --> File --> Create New Task?

 

All right this is what it says.

So what do I do with the http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/nodesktop.reg link? I'm pretty confused. And sorry to be such a bother, but I'd appreicate help since I have the same problem as mikee68.

mikee68 or whoever can help me, I hope you see this.

 

Click on the link, and when the download pops up, save it to your desktop. After you finished downloading it, open it, and when it asks you about adding to the registry, simply click yes and your done.

 

I don't get a download pop-up.

This is all I get when I click on the link. I get a page with all this.

 

Roche,

I am not sure, looks like it is opening in notepad. Maybe one of the other members will know. I will be checking just in case.

Steve

 

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/nodesktop.reg

Yeah, so that didn't work anyways. The Windows Task Manager shows that there are only 29 processes running. Nothing at all shows up. I can't right click on the desktop. I can't do anything.

I don't understand what the problem is. Please help, asap.

 

My suggesation would be to start a thread in the Malware Forum, you obviously still have some stuff that you cannot remove on your own. Just explain to them that you followed what steps you could.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35

Steve