Start Button and Context menu disappear before I can select anything

I was having problems with my HP Pavilion running Windows XP. I thought I had a virus, so I came on here, ran several tests, then the problems started recurring. They told me to start the process all over again.
Instead, I decided to bring it to a local PC repair place. They ended up erasing and reformatting it.
Then problems started recurring, but I was busy, so put off doing anything about it until the Start Menu and Taskbar started to disappear too fast to select anything, and my desktop icons would not function. It also would not allow me to restart in safe mode.
So I brought it in to IT at work. She had the same problem with the Start Button and Taskbar, but she was able to right click and turn off auto hide. Anyway, she thought the PC repair folks didn't actually erase everything, so we erased everything again. It took several tries, because she kept getting error messages about some files not copying over.
Finally, when it was done, I brought it home and when I rebooted, the Start Menu and Taskbar have the exact same problem. When I try to right click, the context menu also disappears before I can select anything.
Is there a way to get to that context menu with a keyboard command?

 

You simply need to press the Windows Logo key to bring up the task bar. You can then right click on an open area of the Task Bar and select Properties. Then uncheck Autohide the Task Bar. As far as the right click context menu, I'm not certain what's going on with that. Can you describe what you're doing after you right click?

Also, what Service Pack are you running in Windows XP?

 

It has service pack 2. As for the context menu, all I do is right click, then I don't have time to do anything else because the context menu flashes on and off in a second.

 

Greetings, jrasicmark.

Just had a wild thought: you don't happen to have another mouse you can try, do you? A few months ago I had a similar problem with a client's machine: turned out to be the switches were worn out in the mouse, causing inadvertent double-clicks. Shot in the dark.

By the way: I'm across the state from you, close to Myrtle Beach. Go Clemson!

 

Thanks, Caliban. I'll try getting another mouse and see how that works. I've brought it back to work for IT to look at it again today, and she didn't have these problems with the mouse she used, so maybe you're on to something.

What a small world! Your end of the state sounds more interesting than mine, but living in the middle of nowhere keeps me out of trouble I can't spend much on impulse buys when there aren't many places to shop nearby.

 

If you're running 64-bit Windows XP, you're fine. 64-bit only went to SP2.

But, if you're running 32-bit, Microsoft support for Win XP SP2 32-bit ended in July of 2010. Any updates you may have gotten recently would have been for any Office products you have that may still be supported by Microsoft but not for the Operating System.

If you're running 32-bit, you need to update your Windows XP to Service Pack 3 and then get the security updates for your Operating System either by the Microsoft Update site or through Windows Update.