I have no programs running at start up, just a black (blank) screen and a cursor.

Task manager shows nothing running in applications, but things are running in processes and services.

I can open programs through the task manager as "new tasks" and there does not appear to be any data loss. I just have no desktop, no system tray or start menu!

I wonder whether malware may have deleted or renamed something. AV software says PC is clean.

I've done some checking and the following folders are empty (doesn't seem right):

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
c:\Users\****\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

The first one shows it was modified on the day the problem started.

Is there a way to restore the original programs or is the blank desktop caused by something else?

I've tried system restore and that did not change things. Starting in safe mode is also the same (if no programs are running, there aren't likely to be any extra ones running in safe mode)!

Any ideas?

From Task Manager, see if you can't run explorer

Thanks. I've done that and it runs OK. Desktop appears as normal.

How can I get programs to run as normal when Windows starts?

Now that I can manually start explorer.exe, I get the dialogue box advising that system restore did not complete due to an error.
I've now tried some other restore points, but they have the same "unspecified error".

Not having essential programs running at start up still seems to be the only problem.

(As a ramdom check, I've checked sound and DVD drives and they function normally).

I've just upgraded to Vista and have the same problem
Did you ever resolve the problem on getting explorer to automatically load

Had to restore back to factory settings. Pain in the ass.
Problem hasn't returned though.

I now have problems with iexplorer not responding after using it for a while.