Member Avatar for jlkeith78

My husband was adjusting the display on his monitor, and everything disappeared. No icons, no start menu. He cant access the task manager, even in safe mode, if he right clicks then tries to click on anything else, the menu just goes away again. The Windows key between ctrl and alt doesn't do anything either. Please help!!!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by sittas87

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Missing Start menu, no icons and context menus that vanish usually point to the Windows shell (explorer.exe) not running, a damaged user profile, or an incorrect shell entry in the registry — not just a simple monitor tweak. described Task Manager being hard to reach; that reinforces a system/shell problem rather than only a display issue. was right to suspect more happened at the same time the monitor was adjusted.

Quick, safe steps to try now:

  • If possible open Task Manager with Ctrl+Shift+Esc (or Ctrl+Alt+Del) then File > New Task (Run...) and type explorer.exe to restart the shell.
  • If Task Manager will not open, reboot and press F8. Try "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" and at the prompt run explorer.exe to start the GUI or run rstrui.exe to launch System Restore without the Start menu. Also try "Last Known Good Configuration" from the F8 menu; it can undo recent registry changes.
  • If explorer starts then crashes, check the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon and confirm the Shell value is explorer.exe (use regedit from Safe Mode).

If logging in as another user fixes it, the original profile is corrupted — create a temp admin (net user temp /add then net localgroup Administrators temp /add) and back up data. If these steps fail, run sfc /scannow from Recovery Console or prepare for a repair install after backing up important files.

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Member Avatar for hughv

Try System Restore.

Member Avatar for sittas87

without your hubby realising it he did a little mare than just adjusting the its not a virus then system restore should do the trick
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