I was receiving DLL error messages related 5to an Nvidia file so I reinstalled the drivers in safemode, that got rid of the error message... But I still can't access my start bar, and my system is very unstable... So I did I repair install and that also didn't really solve anything... If I resize my desktop then I lose the start bar totally and can't get it back... I can still open things (word files, etc) on the desktop, but as soon as I get into "My Computer"... via the "Unused Desktop Items" link.... my computer becomes very unstable.. What does this all mean?

i had that problem last week. first i noticed i had the new blaster e worm, got rid of that, had to re-install my graphics driver, then my task bar and start button vanished! i noticed in ctrl/alt/del that explorer.exe was missing. tried numerous things but ended up having to re-install xp....what a jip!!

Follow up: For anyone with problems resolving the 711 error, here is a link to info that helped. In my case, this didn't work until I applied more XP SP's and updates. Starting a couple of these services proved stubborn until afterward. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=330163 Again I thank JohnW for the links. They helped with other subjects also, and provided new resources to me. I got back my old ISP connection, and I can create new connections, but they won't connect. I'm looking @ a fresh install after one more system repair because I think too many adjoining files got fried along the way to recover. Reinstalling Internet Explorer made no difference. It's been a great learning experience either way, and I now know some new tricks. The start bar problem does not sound promising either... so I wish those with it better luck than I had!