No icons or start , just background

I have the problem of being able to start up but when I get passed the login screen, all I see is the background, not the icons or the start menu. My computer isnt brand new, its running Windows Xp Pro sp2, and if im not mistaken, my cousin just recently let it autoupdate itself. I also am not seeing explorer running on my computer. Everytime I try to get into control panel, it wont do anything. I tried adding the new registry like another guy who had this problem here, but it didnt help. I have been using ctrl alt delete to get to my programs. Please help mya

 

sounds like a trojan to me. i'd run some spyware and virus scans in safe mode.

 

i already checked it with norton anti-virus. someone else in this forum had the same problem but they gave up and said they were just going to reformat their computer. one reply to them said it my just be a registry issue so im waiting for him to notice this message, but other ideas are welcome. thanks.

 

As you mentioned your cousin doing something with your computer, it could be that your user profile is corrupted and causing the issue. How many users are on your computer?

You could always try logging in as administrator and seeing if that makes a difference.

You could also go to Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Computer Management/System Tools/Users and see the status of your user profile! Hope this helps!

 

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).

NOTE:Make sure you only look for and delete the exact keys listed below ( right-click to delete ).

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

Restart and your desktop and taskbar should return.

Steve

 

i followed the instructions but the iexplorer and explorer don't appear to be there

 

Did you try the other fixes in the thread you refered too? One of those may work for you.

Steve

 

yes i tried them, the only one i didnt try was wehere i put the new registry on the floppy instead of running it of my desktop, but i did do the one with the desktop

 

what reg entry did you add?
does it all work in safe mode?

run a chkdisk/scandisk
and see if that does anything. . .

run an antispyware program as well(couldn hurt any)
and or ask in the spyware forum if it may be related. . .

 

This may or may not help(yes it is for 2000, but may help in your case):

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q256194