Do a thorough Windows Update first. Start IE. Go to Tools, then Windows Update.

Sound very much like a pre-SP1 problem.

This might help
Quick Launch - Missing or you receive an error message, to correct:

This behavior can occur if the Quick Launch folder has been deleted. To resolve this issue, recreate the Quick Launch folder. Create a folder named Quick Launch at the following location:

C:\Documents and Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer

Also this .
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

There are two forms of the Quick Launch error:

1) After every reboot, you have to manually restart Quick Launch, or
2) when you try to activate Quick Launch, you get a "Cannot create toolbar..." error.

If you are encountering problem #1 above, then do the following:

1. In Registry Editor (Start > Run... > regedit), navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

2. Find the "Userinit" key
3. it probably contains:

%system32%\wsaupdater.exe,

where %system32% represents the path to the System32 folder. For example, C:\Windows\System32

4. Instead of wsaupdater.exe, the data should contain userinit.exe,. Using the example above, change it to:

C:\Windows\System32\userinit.exe,

Do not forget to add the comma at the end!!!

5. Close the Registry Editor and reboot your computer.

Jacko2215 - that is exactly what needed to be done! Thankyou for your help!

After reading through these (and many other similar forums) and not finding a solution that worked for me, there appears to be a 3rd form of the problem 'Quick Launch disappears each reboot' which I was able to fix as follows:

1) Run 'Regedit'. Browse to the following registry location: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\microsoft\windows\currentverion\polices\explorer

2) Locate the Registry entry 'NoSaveSettings'and double-click to bring up the 'Edit DWORD value' diaglog

3) Change the 'Value Data' from '1' to '0' (i.e. where 0 = Explorer Settings - including Quick Launch Settings - are saved)

4) Close Regedit

5) Restart the Computer

6) Ensure that the Quick Launch Toolbar is displayed (Right-click anywhere on the toolbar to bring properties and check 'Show Quick Launch Toolbar'.

7) Restart the Computer

Note: The 2 restarts are necessary in order to actually see the changed behaviour. The first restart saves the registry change so that Explorer settings (such as Quick Launch settings) are saved during the second and all subsequent restarts.

I was having this same problem, but I thought that Windows just had reconfigured it that way.....

I have checked the regedit and all the values were set as they show in above answers,

C:\Windows\System32\userinit.exe,
and
0 in policies already there

Still the quicklaunch check in settings for taskbar disappears every time I boot up.
Help! I have windows XP

Correz, you're the MAN! Your registry tweaking recommendation worked perfectly. Thanx!

I Have tried both the guides here and no luck.
It already says C:\Windows\system32.userinit.exe, but the quicklaunch is gone anyway...=/
And in the other guide (Correz guide), the specified key asked for doesnt even exists...

There must be something else wrong.

Help please!