need some help

[compguy786]

hey guys,
i have a computer that has win xp pro on it, the problem is when i log in into xp, the windows task bar and icons are gone, that means something is wrong with explorer.exe, and i have no clue what to do to bring it back
thanks

 

[Ricemarine]

Have you tried reinstalling windows xp pro?

 

[compguy786]

is there anyway besides reinstalling ?

 

[Cerb]

Have you checked to make sure your shell is still Explorer?

 

[compguy786]

yeah i know it has to be explorer, because when it starts up, explorer pops up for a sec and then just disappears, and when i try to run it, it pops up for a sec and then disappears

 

[Cerb]

Oh...OK, try anti-spyware tools, first. As a last resort, use Hijack This, MAKING BACKUPS, and start removing things (obviously, the most suspicious first, with restarts in between). I'm guessing something is loaded that hooks to Explorer, and is crashing, and Explorer goes down from it.

If you want more than Task Manager to work within for this duration, xoblite should take over as shell temporarily, w/o changing settings. I've used it on a few machines that had problems with the shell, since it makes it easy to handle using programs, Googling, etc., better than task manager and alt-tabbing a lot.

Another simple thing would be to export the HKLM and HKCU run keys, and then remove them, importing them back in later on.

 

[vanvock]

Have you tried system restore?

 

[compguy786]

tried everything, gave up and reinstalled win xp
thanks for all of yalls help
i appreciate it