No Start Menu, Taskbar or Desktop Icons.

A few weeks ago I received a message saying error with my virtual memory.
Then, a few days later all of my desktop icons disappeared along with my
start menu and taskbar. I can't even right click on my desktop. Every time I
try to download something to fix it the download never starts. I can't open
any programs or download any new ones. I have no clue how to fix it. PLEASE
HELP ME!!

You may need to use another computer and a thumb drive (USB key, etc -
whatever you want to call it) to download the applications to transfer them
to your bum computer to run, install, etc.

First - on the bum computer...

Start button --> RUN
(no "RUN"? Press the "Windows Key" + R on your keyboard)
--> type in:
winver
--> Click OK.

The picture at the top of the window that opens will give you the general
(Operating System name and flavor) while the line starting with the word
"version" will give you the rest of the story.

Post _both_ in response to this message verbatim. ;-)

Download, install, run, update and perform a full scan (separately) with the
following two applications (freeware versions are the ones to use for this):

SuperAntiSpyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/

MalwareBytes
http://www.malwarebytes.com/

After performing a full scan with one and then the other and removing
whatever they both find completely, you may uninstall these products,
if you wish.

Download and run the MSRT manually:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/ma...e/default.mspx

Reboot.

Com back - let us know what you find.

The run command wno't work; however, I did figure out how to get into it. But
after I type in what to run, nothing happens. So, none of that really worked.
I don't know what else to do.

Boot into Safe Mode...

Try some of this there.

It did not work when I ran my computer in safe mode either..

When you get into Safe Mode - can you (instead of going on into Safe Mode)
use System Restore and go back a few days - when everything was working?

I would not worry about your virtual memory "errors" at the moment.
Is the word "error" in any of the messages?

Usually those messages are informational messages that mean XP is
doing it's job and are not errors. Investigate that later.

How are you trying to download things that never start if you have no
desktop icons or Taskbar?

Open Task Manger with CTRL-ALT-DEL, click File, New Task and in the
box enter:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe

Click OK to see if your desktop icons, etc. appear.

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

These can be uninstalled later if desired.

Reboot and see how things are now. Repeat the Task Manager process to
get the desktop back if needed. If it is still not working quite
right, provide your system information and then continue to fix
things:

Provide your system information as follows:

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste
back here.

There would be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name) or whatever appears to
be only your business that you can delete from the paste.

[midwestpatsfan]

I am in the same boat and freaking out because all of my work and pics are on this computer. I cannot do anything. This all started with a virus(google redirect) and I have tried to download just about every virus, adware, spyware remover there is, but they will not work. Now I have lost my icons. I was able to get task manager to work to use my internet, but i am not a computer wiz, so I do not know what else to do. if anyone has any ideas, even a way to walk me through how to get my stuff off the computer and then reload stuff, I will be forever in your debt.

Thanks Jose for responding, if you can help me, that would be fantastic. I am horribly unfamiliar with computers, but I will spell out my entire story and you tell me then if I am helpable.

It started out with google simply redirecting me to wierd advertising sites. I first tried to use spybot search and destroy, which after about 2 seconds shut down. After clicking on the icon again, I would get an error saying I did not have permission to use this program or that the internet was not accessible. I tried adaware, malwarebytes destroyer and the same thing happened. I also tried to run a hijackthis and the same thing happened to it. I have run a cccleaner a few times. After that, I found a website that had an 8 step program to go through to to help. I did everything it asked, including the malwarebytes program. It told me to restart my computer, I did. That is when I lost all my icons and task bar. Right click does not work. I used cntrl alt delete to open the task bar and I browsed to find the internet and here is where I am now. It does not seem like I will be able to run a program to get rid of this, and I have no idea where to even look for codes or which ones would be bad. Any thoughts or ideas would be a huge help.

Did you launch explorer from Task Manager and where is your system
information?

With your Internet working are you able to do this much:

Download, install, update and do a full scan with:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/

If not, how far can you get? Can you get to the WWW page? Download?
Install? Launch? That decides what to do next.

Malware will prevent you from going to sites and/or using software
that will help you find and remove it. That is what it likes to do.

It often knows about browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox), Google,
MBAM, SAS, System Restore, Safe Mode, regedit, etc. and will do things
to keep any of that from happening - like even logging in or seeing
your desktop. It thwarts common methods used to remove it.

Malware is more incovenienceware and annoyingware, so you just have to
know how to outsmart it (which is not too hard).

Folks that lose data often do so because they end up reformatting,
reinstalling, after just trying things that might work maybe,
guessing, etc.

Malware ends up winning when people can't outsmart it.

[PringleBell]

Hi Jose, I'm having the same problem with my desktop, taskbar, etc. I followed all of the steps that you listed earlier, as shown below.

It was working great and I got to the step to install SuperAntiSpyware. I completed that and then ran a full system scan on SuperAntiSpyware. After I quaranteened all the detected files, the program instructed me to reboot to have the changes take effect. I restarted and then when Vista should have shown the desktop, taskbar, etc., but it just went right back to where I started without those items.

I tried the task manager step that was previously done and had no success. So i started vista in "safe mode with networking" When I did the Task Manager step and hit enter it worked. I was able to see the desktop, taskbar, etc. I downloaded the SuperAntiSpyware again and ran a quick scan. It only found 5 threats vs. 1000+ on the first full system scan.

Now I'm afraid that if i reboot, the desktop, taskbar, etc. will not show up at the new startup. I'm still in safe mode and I haven't clicked "yes" to reboot. I'm going to download and run Malwarebytes first and do a scan and then try to reboot.

Do you know why Vista didn't load desktop, taskbar, etc. after I did the first scan? Do you have any suggestions for what I should try, so that i wont always have to run in safe mode and use task manager to get things back to normal?

"Open Task Manger with CTRL-ALT-DEL, click File, New Task and in the
box enter:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe

Click OK to see if your desktop icons, etc. appear.

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

These can be uninstalled later if desired.

Reboot and see how things are now. Repeat the Task Manager process to
get the desktop back if needed. If it is still not working quite
right, provide your system information and then continue to fix
things"

[debo11]

I'm having the same issues as well. My computer was running slow and had the Windows Police Pro virus attacking it, I read online to download the MalwareBytes software, it found 800 issues and erased them all upon restarting the pc.

Once the pc was rebooted only the background image loaded. The icons and taskbar are all missing.

Alt+CTRL+DEL doesnt pull anything up.
CTRL+Shift+ESC will pull up a popup that says "Task Manager has been restricted by Admin"

The "run" command doesn't work either. Basically, everything that has been recommended on here is not working. Anything else we can try before doing a system restore as none of the stuff on that pc is backed up??

So I went to the site with the BitDefender Rescue, created a disc from a working laptop, put it in the desktop and same problem. This time however, right before it went to the empty desktop screen a black screen pulled up saying "No drivers found."

I'm thinking we need to do a system recovery, the only concern I have is that none of the content has been backed up on it. If we take the hard drive and put it in an external enclosure to try and recover some of the info before doing a recovery, can the infected data potentially end up transferred to the other computer along with the pictures, music, and videos? I've done a system recovery before but I had everything backed up then so it wasn't a concern to me at the time. This is the first time I haven't had a chance to backup any content.

Additionally, I no longer have the system recovery discs as this was a custom build from five or six years ago that I have just been upgrading as the years go by and four moves later, that box is long gone. I know I won't be able to get a copy of the discs, would it be more feasible to wait for Windows 7 and just purchase an upgraded OS to start over with?

Richard - I'm posting from a Vista machine because my XP machine isn't working. How could I ask for help on a computer that isn't working if I can't even turn it on? It is possible that a person can have multiple pc's with a different OS on each one.

I'll try F12 during startup and see where that gets me.

It's Windows XP Pro on a custom built machine.

Sorry I'm not sure what other info I can provide. There is no Start button. There is no taskbar, no desktop icons, the task manager has been completely disabled by whatever is infecting the pc.

Unless the great majority of those 800 issues were just cookies, 800
is an *enormous* number. The chances of your successfully removing
that many infections is extremely slim. Any time you have a lot, you
almost certainly need to do a clean reinstallation of Windows.

You're probably still infected.

Burn BitDefender, or another program listed at the link below, to a CD
(using a working machine) and test the infected machine with it.
BitDefender also has a Rootkit checker on the Linux Desktop; run it if
you think that's the problem:

Download the executable rather than the .iso image, if one is
available.. it prompts you to insert a CD and burns the file, no problem.

Then run these:

Malwarebytes© Corporation
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/program/mbam-setup.exe

SuperAntispyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/supe...freevspro.html

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
Line 51. (r-h column) Enable the Task Manager - Disable Task Manager

When requesting help in a newsgroup, please state your full Windows version,
edition and service pack level. You are using Vista, but replying to a
message in the Windows XP Help and Support newsgroup. You might find better
help in one of the Vista newsgroups where the Vista experts hang out.

In your newsreader:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsof...vista.security

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsof...rity.homeusers

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsof....vista.general

On the web:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities...sta.sec urity

http://www.microsoft.com/communities...ty.homeuser s

http://www.microsoft.com/communities...ista.gen eral

You need to set the BIOS to boot from the CD first, then the HD. That
way, if there's a bootable CD in the machine, it'll be used.

It's also possible that pressing F12 during startup will prompt you for
what device to boot from.

Please post the model of computer, such as Dell 2880, or HP 1932, plus
any other pertinent data, maybe the version of Windows. We can then
tell you how to get into the BIOS to set the CD as the first boot device.

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste

There will be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name), and whatever appears to
be private information to you, just delete from the pasted
information.

This will minimize back and forth Q&A and eliminate guesswork and
assumptions.