no destop or taskbar!

Hi, about 2 months ago i ran a mcafee scan and it cleaned and possibly deleted some files...over 600 in total. afterwards when i switched the pc back on, i have had no taskbar or desktop...just the background. i realised i could still run stuff through task manager, altho one user area closed it, and comes up with a warnign message saying "windows task manager has been disabled by your administrator, altho it was an administrtor account. luckily i had made a spare one. when the task manager is opened, i have around 150 - 300 processes operating, and all but about 20 say "userinit.exe ".

i assumed that this file was deleted by a virus scanner. wen i ran the virus scan again it found no problems, so i knew it wasnt another virus. i then tried reinstalling windows xp (which i have done before out of desperation) howeva it said it could not do this because the version of xp on the pc was newer than the one on the pc. (i'm guessing updates account for this).

So then i tried fidnign the userinit.exe file on the xp disk, which i did, and planned to copy it manually to the pc and paste in hope that would work. Either that does not work or i have not placed it in the rite location, as it was successful either. since then (which was about a month ago) i have just put up with running it through task manager. But now i have bought a game i ahve long awaited for, which will not start because it cannot start direct x, which i would also assume was because the computer is not functioning correctly.

i am now completely at a loose end, so any ideas or help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Martin

 

Welcome to the forums madogg.

Do you recall what infections McAfee called the files? Just curious is all. I'm assuming you're no longer infected, save the taskbar and desktop?

Also, with regards to the re-install, if you uninstall XP SP 2 you may be able to reinstall the OS, depending on how old the disk is.

Uninstalling XP SP2.

Is it just your taskbar and desktop which are disabled or is anything else not functioning?

Try this for the desktop, tho depending on what infection you had, this may not work.
Go to Control Panel > Display. Click on the "Desktop" tab then click the "Customize Desktop" button. Click on the "Web" tab. Under "Web Pages" you should see an entry checked called something like "Security" or similar. Select that entry and click the "Delete" button. Click OK then Apply and OK. That should get rid of it.

Get us some more info and we can proceed, if you decide to try and repair rather than reinstall the OS, we'll move this thread over to the proper forum.

 

(none)

i cannot locate wat the virus was, i do know it was a type of worm tho, i tried the destop thing, but all it ha don the list was "my homepage" or somethign along the lines of that.

i believe this userinit.exe is a system file....i have tried removing the SP 2 pack, bt still couldnt reinstall. have also tried system restore. If you have the userinit.exe file on ur computer, would u be able 2 tell em whereabouts its located....i think if i can replace it where its supposed to be that may help. atm it takes up 2 6 hours before my pc gives up on trying to load that particular file.

another thign that happens is that if i browse for a rpogram in task manager, i can right click a folder and click open. the message will come up sayin "cannot find (location of folder) please check you have typed the location correctly. if you cannot find the file click windows then search ".

the folder still opens up thought, despite saying it cant.

other things include the windows key not opening the start bit, i cant right click on the destop, altho i can still access desktop properties the way you said.

thtas about everythign i can think of. i'm quite sure that userinit.exe file is the source of the problem, as when i search the computer for it it doesnt appear 2 be anywhere. i'm not aware what the file actually does in particular eitha. if i could find out what it is used for that may shed some light?

martin

 

ok

ok i found userinit.exe file....with help frm a friend to find where it wa. wen i double click on it it does the same thing as it does wen i first start up the pc, which it jus trys to open it over 100 times. is there neway i can stop it opening when i first turn the pc on?

 

OK, lets try these two XP repair processes which may help you out. Tho I'm not very well versed in these type of repairs, this should give you a good start.

System File Checker
ChkDsk