Blank desktop

[Teabag]

HI, This problem has happened five or six times now. I suddenly loose all the icons as well as the menu bar (the one with 'start and the clock) from my desktop and everthing I try fails to get them back (I still have the background picture). I can still access web pages from my keyboard but even the start key doesn't get the menu back on the bottom of the screen. All I can do is restart. I have noticed that it seems to happen when I have used media player, could this be the cause? I am using xp (sp2) and have the latest versions of most things including wmp and have f-secure internet security.

Any help would be welcome

[ryanster44]

i would think that that would be a virus. viruses normally dlete things and use spyware to monitor what u r typin. if u can still get 2 your anti-virus, du a full system scan. if not, press ctrl, alt, del to get to the task manager. select new task and browse through. hav u downloaded anything recently? is the anti-virus switched on?

[Teabag]

Hi ryanstar44,
The only thing I downloaded today was the updated version of i-tunes. I bought 3 songs from Tesco downloads at 2pm but they failed to be downloaded properly and won't play. This is why I was in wmp (which is still the default). Like I say, I can get all the icons back with a reboot, but at tne moment I'm wanting to try and find the problem first.

Any ideas?

[name218]

you need to find a way to run a file called explorer.exe

try windows key and R at the same time, then type explorer.exe and hit enter. this may solve it.

In Internet Explorer Address try typing in:
file:///C:/WINDOWS/explorer.exe

or
C:\windows\explorer.exe

Media Player could be the cause, a program called explorer could have crashed,

[Teabag]

Right, thats done it. I did the C:\windows\explorer.exe thing and everthing popped back to normal. I'll run a full scan now but do you think that this means there is a problem with wmp?

Thanks for all your help

[name218]

if that doesn't work, try ctrl alt delete (at the same time)

click on processes, and end explorer.exe (if it's there)

then press
file
new task
type in explorer.exe and click ok

this should hopefully work

[Teabag]

Thanks for that. I've written it all down for when it happens again! One thing though, does it look like a virus might be in there or is it likley to be some kind of internal conflict?

[name218]

I'm not sure, it's not necessarily a virus, it could just be a conflict, it very occasionally happens to me.

You can run a free scan here from microsoft if you are not sure
http://safety.live.com

[dillenth]

I am Also having a similar problem, when i boot up windows the icons and bar flash like they're trying o load and then disappear. This happens a couple of times and then it gives up. I have used the task manager program to load explorer.exe but it keeps flashing up and disappearing again. all the programs work as long as i use the command line in task manager to start em. Any idas guys?