In MSCONFIG did you turn off rundll32 from starting, I believe explorer will not work if you do that. Odd Problem.

i havent turned anything off. but how would i check to see if it is off?

A what?? Can you please clarify that with more detail?

1. Does the computer/Explorer run properly when booted into Safe Mode? (you get to the safe mode boot option by hitting the F8 key as your computer is starting up).


2. Open the Event Viewer utility in your Administrative Tools control panel and look through your System and Application logs for entries flagged with "Error" or "Warning" which might be related to the Explorer problem. Double-clicking on such an entry will open a properties window with more detailed information on the error; post that info here. To do so:

In the Properties window of a given entry, click on the button with the graphic of two pieces of paper on it; the button is at the right of the window just below the up arrow/down arrow buttons. You won't see anything happen when you click the button, but it will copy all of the details to the Windows clipboard. You can then paste the details into your next post here.

If Explorer doesn't start automatically the registry key that takes care of that might have the wrong value:

The key is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

And the value is shell="explorer.exe"

the registry editor thing i get when the puter first boots is attatched as a doc wasnt sure how else to do it. it happens on all profiles safe mode or regular. and i wasnt real sure waht i was supposed to be looking for in the event viewer please remeber im a newbie at all this.

should it have the " " around it? if not then its not been tampered with

The "registry keys box" shown in your screenshot is the Registry Editor utility. The other odd thing I notice in the screenshot you attached is that the computer is not booted into Windows normally, but is booted into Safe Mode instead. Does it always boot into Safe Mode, or did you do that intentionally?

i booted it in safe mode intentionally. but thats the box we get everytime we boot up and then we have to do the ctrl + alt+ del to get to task manager then file, run task and then list explorer.exe for the explorer to load.

Make a backup of your data to CD or email it to yourself!

This is what I would do if I could not reinstall Windows from scratch. Go to the Control Panel and remove Norton a/v. Then remove any other non-essential or free software from Add/Remove Programs. My bet is Norton a/v is causing some hook called during the launch of the process explorer.exe not to be able to load which then causes explorer to fail...if that sounds like jargon then simply know this...Norton is a flaming pile of crap and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Sure it may be protecting you but often times that translates to you don't get to use your PC either...THANKS NORTON, you hack! Try the ASaP a/v from McAfee, $40 for 3 computers and it only runs two small programs to manage a/v. Norton's Internet Security runs like 10 processes, chugs memory, hooks WMI, hooks into your network stack and generally just bungs up Windows IMO. Sorry if I seem a little too "anti-Norton" but after going to battle with this crappy software enough times you start to get a little psycho about it.

If it still doesn't work after removing Norton then do a repair of Windows. You won't lose your data but you might have to reinstall some programs and SP2 for things to work right again. To do the repair you boot of an XP CD (you will need your license key) and it will run you through set up and when it looks for (and hopefully finds) your previous Windows installation you have the option of repairing it. Good luck!