Hello.

Would be grateful for any pointers with this problem.

XP boots fine, but when the desktop appears i cant access the start menu or exevcute any icons by double clicking.

Also when i mouse_over the tool bar the pointer turns to the hour glass icon.

i can boot in safe mode and i can run task manager and access the command prompt through that.

maybe a corrupt explorer.exe?

also xp came preinstalled, so dont have a an xp cdrom.

thanks in advance for any help.

BB

More like a virus / trojan / spyfiles.

Here are a range of free online sites to cleanup your comp.
http://www3.ca.com/virusinfo/virusscan.aspx
http://housecall.antivirus.com/
http://www.coledata.com/virusalert.htm
http://www.cybertechhelp.com/html/misc/av.php
http://www.pandasoftware.es/activescan/activescan-com.asp
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/
http://www.bitdefender.com/
http://www.pcpitstop.com/antivirus/default.asp
http://virusscan.jotti.dhs.org/
http://virusscan.jotti.org/
http://www.virustotal.com/flash/index_en.html
DrWeb CureIT
http://www.klitetools.com/comments.php?id=2088&catid=46&highlight=Dr.Web+CureIT%21
http://www.klitetools.com/comments.php?catid=46&shownews=2088

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Online trojan scan
http://www.trojanscan.com/
http://www.pcflank.com/
http://www.spywareinfo.com/xscan.php
http://www.windowsecurity.com/trojanscan/

Free online Spyware detector
http://www.pestscan.com/
http://home.ca.com/dr/v2/ec_main.entry25?page=freePestPatrolScan&client=ComputerAssociates&sid=35715&CID=188513
http://www.spywareguide.com/txt_onlinescan.html
http://www.webroot.com/services/spyaudit_03.htm
http://download.zonelabs.com/bin/promotions/spywaredetector/index_za.html
Or,
http://www.spywareinfo.com/xscan.php
Screen for Adware, Spyware, Scumware, Diallers, ’Jackers and other unsolicited commercial software.