Explorer doesn't load properly when windows starts

[Cheesetogo]

After I restarted my computer today, it hung after the small window "windows is shutting down" and stayed at a blue backround. Only way to restart was manually pressing restart. When it booted up again, and after I logged in, explorer would not load properly. Task manager showed it as up, but nothing else would load and all I would see is my desktop backround with no taskbar or icons. About 1 out of 4 trys, everything loads up properly and/or restarts properly. When I attempt to restart (and explorer hasn't loaded properly), it brings up a message that says it's closing the non-responsive program explorer, I get to choose whether to wait for it to close or "end now". If I boot in safe mode, it works fine. I have tried disabling all startup stuff through msconfig, but that did not help. Any ideas?

Edit: Came home, turned on comp and it worked fine. I restarted several times and its ok.

 

[Astray]

First thing we need to know is which operating system you are running.

 

[BadThad]

Could be a virus, there's a virus out there that will replace your explorer.exe file with it's own. It can also hook your explorer shell which can hose your system. Have you scanned for viruses with updated definition files? Post a hijackthis log for us to look over.

Also, MSCONFIG is crap. Take a look at the MUCH more powerful program Start Up Control Panel.

 

[Cheesetogo]

I'll post a hijackthis log when I get home to my computer. I'm running XP Pro.