Help--my icons and start button have disappeared!

Chkdsk writes it's results to your application event log. Details there.

 

MsGPG
Newts suggestion is a good one if you want to see what chkdsk found. In case you don't know, you can view it by tying eventvwr.msc in the run box in task manager. In the left pane click on application and then in the right pane, under source, look for winlogon.

 

A bit of a hint from my own SAD experiences.

If you do decide to re-install XP make sure you boot to the CD DIRECTLY FROM A POWER OFF state. Not just a machine restart.

Otherwise there may be things left in RAM that appear to be running and may not allow a proper re-install/overwrite.

Also I am not sure about XP but 98 would make a new Windows folder if booted from the HD to reinstall.

BillyBob

 

It appears MsGPG may of decided to reinstall
There may of been an easy fix for this
No guarantees but if an AV or another tool removed some bad files but didn't remove the registry settings
This scenario can happen

I was curious about this key in the registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options

Perhaps, if it's not too late, the user can use task manager
File>>New task
type in regedit

Navigate to Image File Execution Options and right click on it and export the key
Name it and
Save it to a convienent location you remember
Exit the registry and then navigate to the saved location
Right click on the exported reg file and choose Edit
Copy and paste that info back here

P.S. The log from WPFind may of helped

 

Conclusion

Bad news....but Great news--

The bad news--I had to reinstall Windows XP--well that is...i'm wasn't able to try the last post..so I'm not sure if it would have worked. Every suggestion prior would not work--mainly due to the fact (almost) everytime I typed in a command--the program would not open up---except the box for the registry--but this was ineffective b/c it was empty. When I downloaded files/programs...most of them would not open up..or run correctly for some reason. In respone to one of the post--I did find the "shell" and it was set for explorer.exe... I don't recall if I saw the key mentioned in the last key when I ran regedit. Anyway...thank you all for your help...and hopefully this won't happen again.

Oh yeah--obviously the good news...after I reinstalled Window's XP---I had icons and a task bar and everything has been working well. None of my files were missing. Oh, and I went ahead and downloaded and set up the taskbar repair just in case this happens again.

Good luck to the next victim.

 

Thanks for the GREAT news.

BillyBob

 

Hi msGPG,
I sure am lacking in speed responding to this past problem of yours but am most happy to hear the good news and to see that you've recovered relatively unscathed. Looks like the problem went a lot deeper than we were all hoping, shooting for or betting on. Trying to fix a problem when taskmanager's run line is your only lifeline to a tool or app is enough to try anyone's patience, particularly when it was a "hit and miss" on whether the tool or app was going to function as expected. After throwing a few good punches in this fight, it looks like Windows won the battle but a repair install has allowed you to win the war. Glad all is well....

Just for FYI...
Blank system restore possible cause and other programs and applications not working: (jscript or vbscript)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;831430&Product=winxp