No Start Menu, Taskbar or Desktop Icons.

**Bhuvan** · 22-09-2009

Just recently I was getting a message saying that there was error with my virtual memory. After that, a few days later all of the desktop icons disappeared alonf with the start menu items and taskbar. I am not even able to right click on the desktop. Whenever I want to download something to solve this issue, then the download never starts. I am also not able to pen any programs or download any new ones. I dont know how to solve this issue. Can anyone please help me out? Thanks.

**MattyBoy** · 22-09-2009

You will have to use another computer and a usb drive to download the applications to transfer them to your computer to run and install, etc. You can 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/

Do a full scan of your computer and see if it removes the malwares.

**Russell** · 22-09-2009

Can you try to get into Safe Mode and use the System Restore and then go back to a time when everything was working fine?

**newtech** · 22-09-2009

You dont have to worry about your virtual memory errors right now. Do you get the word error in any of the messages? Actually those messages are informational messages that means XP is doing its job and are not errors. What steps you are taking to download things that never start if you have no desktop icons or Taskbar? Can you try to open Task Manager with CTRL-ALT-DEL and then click File and then New Task and in the box enter the below:

%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe

After that click ok to check if your desktop icons appear.

**midwestpatsfan** · 22-09-2009

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.

**PringleBell** · 05-10-2009

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** · 07-10-2009

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.

**techman** · 09-10-2009

You might have to seth 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.

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