Desktop is gone

[tingtang]

I began having this proble recently. When I start my computer, I get the welcome screen. When I shift to the desktop, only the background is there. There is no desktop icons, no windows menu... NOTHING. The thing is I cant link this to anything because I reinstalled windows and got the same problem two days later. All I was doing the second time was updating my computer with stuff it previously had for ages, so it cant be anything like that. I have Norton up and running perfectly so its not a virus. I can only access things through the task manager after pressing ctrl-alt-delete. Someone please help. I cant keep reinstalling windows every 2 days. Please help me.

[Dani]

You say you keep putting your old stuff back on your system? Try not doing that and see if the problem goes away. I don't mean not to reinstall your software. I mean, don't put your own files or anything you have ever downloaded back onto your system. It may be a trojan or virus of some sort that Norton doesn't detect. First of all, Norton is a virus remover - not a trojan remover. ;) Second, Norton doesn't catch *everything* - no antivirus program can.

G'luck! :)

[tingtang]

Thanks for the quick reply. I dowloaded normal stuff. Windows Updates and those kinds of things. Nothing risky. I tried system restore and nothing changed. Is there anything that removes trojans or at least detects them? I would hate to reinstall all over again. I never had a problem with the old stuff either. I mean those were things I had for months. But this thing acted up after two days. Still, I checked the windows newsgroups and a few people were complaining of a similar problem but they had no replies. I guess it could be something that isnt being detected. Is there anyway I can salvage this?

[caperjack]

Here's what i would try ,boot in safe mode ,go to start/run and type in regedit, and go to this reg key ,This is where the commands for everything that is set to run when windows starts is stored .
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
and look for the MSBlast.exe or something that looks out of place !!If its there delete its key .Don't for get to backup the registry before you delete any thing .to backup go, file /export

[rustyx360]

Hi! Believe it or not, about 2 seconds ago i got the same exact problem, and the previous post about the registry editor sparked an idea. I was looking around through it and found something that i remember effecting my old computer. Ok, heres how you fix your problem. You said u can use the task manager so go there, start a new task, and type in "explorer.exe" hit enter and walah! Your desktop is fully back! What caused this problem i still havnt solved, maybe ill do some more exploring and update you if i find the problem.

[forumdude123]

try refreshing the desktop by hitting F5

[mbokhari]

New to this forum, but have had past problems with an old desktop and a trojan that hijacked my browser.

My latest problem started yesterday, I downloaded a codec to use to watch a movie I downloaded, without it the video was not playing, once installed the video appeared and shortly thereafter my desktop disappeared, except for my wallpaper. I used the following applications: AdAware, Norton Antivirus, XoftSpy, RegCure, Error Repair Professional, Registry Mechanic. None have detected anything specific to this problem yet.

When the desktop vanishes, the only way to bring it back is to CtrlAltDel, click on the active application and this has restored. If there are no applications running and it vanishes, I click on File and run a New task and that has also helped.

[forumdude123]

3 words, reformat, reinstall, relief (will be on the way)

[joytech22]

try this:

i forget what to run but its a program used to edit system startup options, add the following command: Explorer.exe

oh yea! CTRL+ALT+DEL and click run, then type in Explorer.exe and hit enter

[shaun_perry]

My suggestion would be to have someone download Avast 4.8 Home Edition (completley free) and install it to your computer in "safe mode". Once installed, run a boot time scan. It will remove just about all viruses, even the ones quarrantined by Nortons.
You may find that Nortons is corrupted by the virus, no worry, just delete it. once the scan is complete, go into windows and remove Nortons anti virus completley.....
You can download the Norton Removal Tool via the following link:

http://service1.symantec.com/Support/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

I hope that help you a bit. I will get back to you if I figure out more ideas.

Shaun.

[Doctor Inferno]

This is most probably caused by the malware "F-Nimda"

The SHELLFIX.REG (download below) file is used to fix Explorer startup problems
resulted from unconditional termination of F-Nimda tool during
its operation.

If F-Nimda tool is terminated by a user or operating system while
it is scanning a hard disk, there will be no icons and no taskbar
on Windows desktop. To fix the problem you will have to run the
SHELLFIX.REG file.

Info here:

ftp://ftp.f-secure.com/anti-virus/tools/shellfix.txt

Download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?nnklnmfngto

[tamic]

hey...it workss. but it still go back...on and off..damn