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Hey everyone, just found this site and it looks fantastic.

I've got a pretty major problem. I'm writing this from my housemates computer because i can't get into anything on mine. I'll start my list of issues.

When my computer starts up there is no windows bar, none at all, there is a thin line at the bottom of the screen to suggest it has just been dragged down. But i can't drag it back, and when i right click the "Lock The Taskbar" function is greyed out. Also the windows button on the keyboard does nothing.

Sounds: My system and warning sounds seem to work, but nothing else does, Windows Media Player, PowerDVD, whatever else.

Internet: I can open both firefox and IE, but neither of them will load anything, they wont even try. As soon as i hit enter the page cannot be found.

Pictures: no pictures will open, whatever i do i can't get them on the screen.

At this point i gave up, not having anything to help me. (AVG antivirus wont open and i don't have spyware cleaners, every one i ever got caused me more problems than good).

Anyway, any help you can give me would be great. Thankyou

Cheers,

Jamus

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Dani AI

Generated

— the combination of a missing Start/taskbar, apps failing to open and browsers refusing pages most commonly means either the Windows shell (explorer.exe) is not running or system settings have been altered (often by malware). Priority is to restore the shell, preserve personal files, and then scan/repair.

Start with these safe, ordered checks:

  1. Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete or Ctrl+Shift+Esc). Look for explorer.exe. If it is not present, choose File -> New Task (Run...) and start:

    explorer.exe

    If it is present but the UI is broken, End Process on explorer.exe then use New Task -> explorer.exe to restart the shell.

  2. If Task Manager will not open or the above doesn’t help, reboot and press F8 to enter Safe Mode (or Safe Mode with Networking for downloads). Safe Mode often bypasses malware that blocks normal tools.

  3. Important checks in Safe Mode: confirm the Winlogon shell registry value is explorer.exe at

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

    and review the hosts file for redirects:

    notepad C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

    Also check IE -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings to ensure no proxy is set. Use ipconfig /all and ping 8.8.8.8 to distinguish network vs DNS problems.

If malware is suspected (antivirus won’t open, many apps blocked), back up important data immediately (use Safe Mode or a Linux/Rescue USB), then scan with reputable on-demand scanners or bootable rescue media. If automated repair fails, a System Restore or repair install may be required. Exercise caution when editing the registry or system files and always keep a copy of personal files before making major repairs.

Member Avatar for jamus01

sorry, should add, its an AMD Athlon 2600 with Windows XP, everything's updated as far as it asked me to. It's fairly old, and has had hiccups before, but nothing to screw it up this bad...

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