HELP NO start menu or screen icons

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coughlansarah Posts 1 Registration date Monday December 14, 2009 Status Member Last seen December 15, 2009 - Dec 15, 2009 at 03:54 PM
xpcman Posts 19530 Registration date Wednesday October 8, 2008 Status Contributor Last seen June 15, 2019 - Dec 15, 2009 at 10:35 PM
Hello,
I am running Windows XP on a home PC and a couple of weeks ago I was in the middle of an internet session dowloading PDF files . WHen I returned to the desk, the wallpaper only was showing ( no screen icons or start menu). On control -alt-delete I have the task manager and can work with most programmes this way -

I have tried many of the options presented here such as relaunching the computer, deleting explorer files etc but nothing is working!

I have thought about setting up a new user but can't do this with no start menu-----

PLEASE HELP!!! ANy suggestions welcome!
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1 response

xpcman Posts 19530 Registration date Wednesday October 8, 2008 Status Contributor Last seen June 15, 2019 1,825
Dec 15, 2009 at 10:35 PM
A program called explorer.exe controls the display of your taskbar and desktop icons. If for some reason it goes missing (you may have killed it using Task Manager, for example, or something more sinister like a virus has deleted it from your processes), then try this first:

1. Open Task Manager (press Ctrl+Alt+Del, then click Task Manager).
2. On the Applications tab, click New Task at the bottom right of the window.
3. Type explorer.exe, then click OK.

If nothing sinister caused it to disappear, it should all come back as it was and you can stop panicking, breathe a sigh of relief, and continue working.

If that doesn’t work, then try this:

1. Open Task Manager (press Ctrl+Alt+Del, then click Task Manager).
2. Go to the Processes tab.
3. Click on the Image Name column header to sort the list alphabetically.
4. Find all explorer.exe processes — select each, then click End Process for each one.
5. On the Applications tab, click New Task at the bottom right of the window.
6. Type explorer.exe, then click OK.
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