Hi all, I've tried replying to an older thread but it kindof rejected my attempt. It can be found here: http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/132877.html I'm having a very similar problem to what others there were saying. Upon startup I get all the way to my desktop/wallpaper, but nothing further loads: icons, taskbar, or even startup programs. I can invoke Task Manager the usual way, and I notice if I start explorer.exe manually, it comes up on the process list for maybe a half second then disappears. ?!? I should add: the exact same symptoms happen in safe mode. Thus i'm skeptical that a "selective startup" via msconfig will do much. Also it's interesting to note that I can run just about any program by manually invoking it (it's just a huge PITA). I'm growing afraid that the only sufficient fix may be a fresh install, but also i'm relatively prepared for this (and have been needing it for awhile for other reasons). Any help is largely appreciated, especially if anyone has any firsthand knowledge or further experience with this problem. Thanks!

... the last post suggest: f-nimda tool to remove virus related, and to download shellfix.reg which reads; REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] "Shell"="explorer.exe" and run from task manager, text info have you tried system restore,prior to error occuring, may be too late, but could be temporary fix for safe mode, and sfc /scannow (system file checker) with cd, maybe fresh/re- install if nothing else works, pre-read: posted ... and Recovery Console ... 6B 69 6C 72 6F 79 20 77 61 73 20 68 65 72 65

Taskbar and Icons missing: Try this: http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/85915.html (Response Number 1 looks like a fix?) Also try this: http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/86113.html and http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/143121.html (That one is a special Posting someone made of how he fixed it.)