my son opened an e-mail from a gaming site. Straight after all of his desktop icons and his start menu disappeared. His wallpaper is still there and we can access files through ctr-alt-delete\task manager, but cannot find explorer.exe to run system restore it seems as though the operating systems have been wiped. Is there any way to sort out this mess without resorting to factory restore as he has lost all of his operating disks so i can't start from scratch. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. jacquie

Try booting to safe mode. I can't say what keystroke/s are used with that system. Watch the screens for prompts May be an F key. F2, F12, F8. Once in safe mode perform a system restore back to a time before this incident. Go start> help and support> system restore.

Login with an account with Admin privileges and try and run System Restore. You don't run explorer.exe to open System Restore. It's accessed from the Accessories, System Tools Menu. And, after you get this straightened out, make sure you install good anti-virus and malware detection/removal programs. "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown

Windows logo key + R Copy and paste the line below into the run box: C:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

Pressing the Winkey+R won't open 'Run' unless Explorer is running, which it appears to be not. Jennifer: One cannot access the start menu as you were saying, if Explorer is not running. To the OP: Press CTRL-SHIFT-ESC on the keyboard and in the task manager goto FILE -> New Task (run) and type %systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe press Enter and then restore the computer to a date when it worked Medion MIM 2080 Toshiba T2130CT Macintosh Performa 450 All working wonderfully.