Having some problems with the start menu

I have windows xp and when my mouse is over the start menu and toolbar, all I see is an hourglass. This will not go away. Anybody know what this is?

 

It sound like you have some programs in the background trying to start up or something. Press Ctrl/Shift/Esc at the same time, and see how many processes are running. Let us know what you find.

Also, did you check for Spyware?

 

When I press control/shift/escape it shows that there are a bunch of different things running, but I don't really know what any of them are. Here is a list:

Explorer.exe
Spoolsv.exe
Taskmgr.exe
Svchost.exe (x4)
Wowexec.exe
Msinf16h.exe
Ntvdm.exe
Lsass.exe
Services.exe
Wusb54gp.exe
Csrss.exe
Winlogon.exe
Wlservice.exe
Nvsvc32.exe
Psfree.exe
Msmsgs.exe
Rundll32.exe
Viewmgr.exe
Vptray.exe
Rtvscan.exe
Smss.exe
Defwatch.exe
Cdac11ba.exe
Alg.exe
System
System idle process

 

From task manager, go to new task.

Type services.msc

Click OK.

Stop and disable SSDP Discovery service.

That should take care of it.

 

It says that the SSDP Discovery Service is already disabled.

 

Help? Anyone?

 

these processes don't need to be running unless you're running some DOS emulated program

Wowexec.exe
NTVDM.exe

end those processes and see if the problem persists.
If you see those processes start up again with you causing to load , the scan your system for viruses.

 

I ended those, and the problem is still there. The computer will not let me access my virus scan program either. Should I use a system recovery CD or something?