I see START button but can't access programs !

[SlickRick]

Hi
Being the local computer guy @ work i get asked alot of tech questions
but when i don't know the answers i go to the real computer guys
@ Anandtech..........so here goes

A friend has a W98 machine
he can see the START button but can not access his programs
( i guess the expanded boxes don't pop up )

he can go online w AOL (ugh!)
he said that he has recently defraged his unit

if i could sit in front and play with it i could probally find the answer
but it hard to think of a solution off the top of my flat head

Thanx 4 the help..............Rick

 

[Syppion]

If the start menu doesn't come up at all... A common prank is/was to move the mouse off the screen and take a screenshot of the desktop, make it the background. Then drag all the icons off screen, and resize the taskbar so it never shows (below the screen). Since he's getting into AOL, he might be the victim of someone who didn't move the icons off screen, but did the rest. The clock never changing is the give-away, and the windows key still works to bring up the start menu. Other than that I can't think of anything offhand.

 

[KillyKillall]

Originally posted by: Syppion
If the start menu doesn't come up at all... A common prank is/was to move the mouse off the screen and take a screenshot of the desktop, make it the background. Then drag all the icons off screen, and resize the taskbar so it never shows (below the screen). Since he's getting into AOL, he might be the victim of someone who didn't move the icons off screen, but did the rest. The clock never changing is the give-away, and the windows key still works to bring up the start menu. Other than that I can't think of anything offhand.

If only I had a quarter everytime that prank worked.

 

[Steaksauce]

Did he try to reboot? Regular cleaning with "updated" spyware and virusscans?

 

[SlickRick]

Oh Yeah !
Thanx 4 the help
Im going 2 talk 2 him 2morrow............Rick