i lost my desktop icon and start bar

kathy6248 · Sep 12, 2006

ok my son who should know better downloaded some crap and i had a virus which macaffee caught and removed. but when i restarted my computer i lost all my desktop icons and my start bar.

so far i have tried to do a system recovery. now that i did that i have no recovery dates at all.

put in the os cd and tried to do a repair , that didnt work.

i was going to do a complete recovery or whatever it's called from the os cd but i wasnt sure which options i needed when it gave me a choice.

i'm clueless and very computer challanged so if you can give me step by step specific answers i'd really appreciate it. also if you can email me directly at < email removed >

thanks bunches,
kathy

TimW · Sep 12, 2006

A fewthings to try:
Verify Auto hide is not activated by following the below steps.

Press CTRL + ESC or your Windows key to make Start menu appear.
Click Settings and choose Taskbar & Start menu
Verify that Auto Hide is not checked.
If Auto Hide is not enabled move the task bar up by following the below steps.

Press CTRL + ESC or your Windows key to make Start menu appear.
Try to notice where the Start menu appeared; generally, it should be the bottom left corner.
Press ESC. You should now notice a small gray line at the location of where the start was.
Move the mouse over that gray line, when in the appropriate position your mouse cursor should change. Once the mouse cursor changes, click and hold the mouse button and move the bar up.

HKLM>Software>Microsoft>WindowsNT>CurrentVersion>Winlogon>Shell

Edit the contents of the Shell tag to Explorer.exe

Reboot, windows should start normally...

I discovered the solution. Go to regedit. Then delete these >keys :

>1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\iexplorer.exe and

>2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\explorer.exe

>3. Reboot.

OR:
Hit the Windows key (i.e. the key between the Ctrl and Alt keys on the left side of the keyboard) and R together. A dialog box should pop up, when it does type "explorer" and hit enter. If that doesn't work, let me know and we will look a little deeper.

Goto:

HKLM>Software>Microsoft>WindowsNT>CurrentVersion>Winlogon>Shell

Edit the contents of the Shell tag to Explorer.exe

Reboot, windows should start normally...

OR:
Go to regedit. Then delete these >keys :

>1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\iexplorer.exe and

>2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\explorer.exe

>3. Reboot. Enjoy!

OR:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

OR:
To find the required Registry key, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StuckRects
Right-click on the yellow folder named StuckRects (StuckRects2 in later Windows) > Delete. When you restart Windows, the deleted key will be regenerated and, with luck, will bring back a healthy Taskbar with it.

kathy6248 · Sep 12, 2006

ok tried both and i get nothing at all.

i can get the start bar to flash across the bottom quickly once if i go to windows task manager, then new task and type in explorer.

now what
kathy

TimW · Sep 12, 2006

Try this:
The workaround: press CTRL+ALT+DEL to fire up the task manager. Now on the File menu, select New Task (Run...). Type in "explorer" and press OK. That should restart explorer and re-display your taskbar.

If that doesn't work ....http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=318027

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i lost my desktop icon and start bar

kathy6248 Private E-2

TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

kathy6248 Private E-2

TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member