After logon, the desktop is blank except for the wall paper

[Hyde Park]

After I restarted my laptop, I was able to logon again. But his time, I saw
nothing but my wallpaper.

The task manager still worked. So I started scanning for virus and spyware.
There were some stuff found on the spy & bolt report. So I stared the
"fixing the problem" button. When the software was done, it said that I had
to restart the computer in order for the new setting (or something like
that) to take effect. So I restarted my laptop. Next thing I know was I
was able to get to the logon page, but the operating system could not
register my password and the screen froze.

 

[Galen]

In Hyde Park <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

After I restarted my laptop, I was able to logon again. But his time,
I saw nothing but my wallpaper.

The task manager still worked. So I started scanning for virus and
spyware. There were some stuff found on the spy & bolt report. So I
stared the "fixing the problem" button. When the software was done,
it said that I had to restart the computer in order for the new
setting (or something like that) to take effect. So I restarted my
laptop. Next thing I know was I was able to get to the logon page,
but the operating system could not register my password and the
screen froze.

Start the PC and go to your wallpaper limited section...

Press CTRL + ALT + DEL and open the Task Manager.
Click on the processes tab
If you see an Explorer.exe right click on it and end process.
Click File > New task (run) > type "explorer.exe" without the quotes > press
enter
That should bring up your desktop
Reboot...

It seems to work fine after a reboot most of the time? I'm not sure why...

If it doesn't then restore to an earlier time. Instead of "explorer.exe" run
"%SystemRoot%\System32\restore\rstrui.exe" for the prompt and that will
start the system restore process.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info

"We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind,
which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply
there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations." -
Sherlock Holmes