Windows desktop troubles

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Trotter

Grandfather of Techist, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Started to post earlier... had a huge post written out about Windows repair freezing up because Spybot kept starting up during it, but that finally worked itself out (took an hour).

But here I am now. Why? Because the original problem that the comp was having is still there. And what, pray tell, is that problem? I'm glad you asked...

he computer boots to Windows XP Pro fine, and allows you to choose your user. But, no matter which one you choose, all you get is the desktop. No Icons. No taskbar. No start button. That's it.

Windows key does nada. Ctrl+Alt+Del still brings up task manager, but that's all I get.

Been cleaning this box up for a co-worker. Seems her grandson has been downloading through Bearshare and Kazaa as well as surfing porn (he got caught on that one :p ). All without AV. Without antispyware. Without a firewall. On SP1 w/o any dates since 2003. Using IE.

This is a spare time project, since the computer was useless when it was brought to me. But I've had it a week or so, and had almost all the crud cleaned out... close to 20,000 adware/spyware entries, over 300 viruses.

I had just updated Spybot (sneaker-net... downloaded it on my comp, transfered via a flash drive) and ran it. It found a few things, but couldn't clean them all. It asked to run on startup, and I clicked yes. Well, on startup, I got no icons, taskbar, nada. No Spybot, either. So I try safe mode. Same thing.

I figured that something had taken a Windows file with it, so i booted off the CD and had it do a repair. Had the blow-up with Spybot running in the middle of it, and survived.

But now I still have no icons, no taskbar, nothing.

Suggestions? Even better... solutions?
 
I don't have it installed, but it wouldn't matter if I did.

I can't run anything other than task manager.

All I have is the desktop's background.
 
Crash and burn.

Ended up having to wipe it and reinstall.

Thanks for the help, Warez. Even if it didn't work out on this end..
 
Well, Trotter, I don't know if you tried everything (but for future reference). You could also try to use Task Manager to start a program. Also, you (should)could have posted the processes from Task Manager and I could have diagnosed them. Either way, I'm sure your friend is happy that you fixed his computer, it was very nice of you.

-Steve
 
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