Hey folks,

My PC has been on now for three days. I reboot every so often but the PC rarely gets turned off or shut down completely. It is a newer model Dell desktop (2.4ghz) running Windows XP.

When I got home from work this evening, I rebooted it to clear out the cache and any other garbage that may be running but not needed. Anyhow, the computer boots up okay, and once passed the "welcome" screen I see my backdrop along with a functional arrow, however there are no desktop icons! No clock, no start button no nothing! The right click on my mouse even fails to bring up a pop-up menu!

What do I do? Any suggestions? When I hit ctrl+alt+del, the "running applications" box is completely empty. Nothing works!

Hope that someone is able to help!
Cheers
Asif

 

you can try booting into safe mode. Press the f8 key when you see the boot menu. Assuming the computer boots into safe mode, you can then look to uninstall the last things you put on there.

more info on safe mode: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315222

 

Maybe you accidentily deleted something you need to start the computer? I won't do my Mac plugs in this thread

 

If you can get in Safe Mode, go to start-- programs-- accessories-- system tools-- system restore, in that order. If you can get to that screen you can select a date before the problem and restore it to that date when it was operating properly. If that dosen't work try changing the ram.

 

Fastrack,

I must have been telepathically recieving messages from you. That is exactly what I did, followed by a virus scan. I did infact have a virus, which is since gone, and I am back in business!

Thanks for all your help folks. This forum never seems to let me down!

Asif

 

all the spam mail eh!!

 

HG,

Wouldn't surprise me, however, I don't check my hotmail from home; thats reserved only for buggering up the work PC!

You can only imagine just how livid I was coming home at 6PM this evening after being at work since 4AM this morning!

Glad it's all figured out now!

Asif