No icons or start toolbar on desktop

My computer boots alright, but loads windows XP home slower than normal. When a user logs in, there is nothing on the screen but the wallpaper. Right clicking doesn't work. task manager can be brought up by alt/ctrl/del. some files can be opened by the task manager, but some programs won't run. what can I do.

 

When I try to run>explorer.exe in the task manager, it seems to try to start, then disappears and no message or anything else.

 

I appologize, because the reply that I sent regarding explorer.exe was describing the results of explorer.int. When I run explorer.exe from the task manager, I get a message that say "windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropiate permissions to access the item." Even when logged in as Administrator

 

As Explorer doesn’t start, you are almost certainly infected. I suggest you run your "˜anti’ programs.

If you can’t run them, try the Linux Avira Antivir Rescue system, here

Download it on a working machine, then insert a blank CD-R in the drive, double-click on the filename and follow the prompts to burn it. The file is about 50MB in size.

On the infected machine, boot from it and when the loading has finished, click on the flag/language of your choice, then Start Scanner. Depending upon your computer, the scan will take about 30 minutes.

 

To get round a problem like that I normally download a malware removal tool called combofix.

If you google it you can get it from bleepingcomputer.

I then copy this to a usb stick and rename the file to something like boop.exe (some malware stops you from running programs with certain names) plug it in.

Open taskmanager and run it.

Hopefully this would then get you to your desktop where you can run other programs to make sure you have removed everything. eg malwarebytes or superantispyware.

 

Royeltart

Whoa, unless you know how to run it, I suggest you hold off from running Combofix. Run the simple Avira Antivir Rescue system as I said above. If that doesn’t clear it up, pay a visit to the Malware and Virus section of our forum.

 

Sorry Burr did not mean to step on your toes.

Tom

 

Tom

We don’t know how experienced Royeltart is and the Combofix logs are not easy to follow. Additionally, any malware logs should be confined to the Malware section.

If you have a good knowledge of Combofix, HiJackThis, etc. (and most importantly the spare time), why don’t you volunteer to help out in the Malware section?

 

Appreciate Help

I appreciate all of the help and suggestions to help me with my problem. I didn't resolve the problem, but I had to abandon the project. Thanks again.

Royeltart

 

I'm trying to help a friend who has what sounds like the exact same issue. He just brought his CPU to my house Saturday and its resisted my attempts to get the desktop back. Should I post a new thread?

 

Hi

First try to boot into safe mode
To boot into safe mode reboot your system and start tapping F8 key which is in the top most Row of the key board

and then try to disable Startup items
To see the steps goto:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310560

Take care