blank desktop

[Guest]

my friends pc was heavily infected with trojans, spyware etc. after getting
rid of all this my final step was to update his pc from the windows webpage,
he needed 23 security updates. after installing these i restarted his pc and
when the desktop came up there was no icons or toolbar at the bottom. You
cant left click and system restore makes no difference. An error message
comes up saying explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close, you
can either click debug which does nothing or click close which turns off the
pc. If you run a new task in task manager called explorer.exe or control.exe
the pop up comes back up.

Any help would be great as this problem is driving both of us nuts, thanks
in advance!

 

[Li'l Roberto]

my friends pc was heavily infected with trojans, spyware etc. after
getting
rid of all this my final step was to update his pc from the windows
webpage,
he needed 23 security updates. after installing these i restarted his
pc and
when the desktop came up there was no icons or toolbar at the bottom.
You
cant left click and system restore makes no difference. An error
message
comes up saying explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close,
you
can either click debug which does nothing or click close which turns
off the
pc. If you run a new task in task manager called explorer.exe or
control.exe
the pop up comes back up.http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315341

Any help would be great as this problem is driving both of us nuts,
thanks
in advance!

It's likely his system was /still is infected with malware when you
did the updates, so first priority is to check the system out
withsomething like AD-Aware SE, Spybot S&D and Sysclean. Unless you
are 100% positive that it is clean, just make sure you have the
latest version of each and run the scans from safe mode.

Next I would turn off System Restore and do a repair installation
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315341
Once you are back up running install SP2 [if isn't included on the
XP CD you have], but first read up here before doing the update
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/sp2_whattoknow.mspx

rgds
Li'l Roberto

 

[Tomek]

my friends pc was heavily infected with trojans, spyware etc. after getting
rid of all this my final step was to update his pc from the windows webpage,
he needed 23 security updates. after installing these i restarted his pc and
when the desktop came up there was no icons or toolbar at the bottom. You
cant left click and system restore makes no difference. An error message
comes up saying explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close, you
can either click debug which does nothing or click close which turns off the
pc. If you run a new task in task manager called explorer.exe or control.exe
the pop up comes back up.

Any help would be great as this problem is driving both of us nuts, thanks
in advance!

Restore Taskbar and Desktop to Default Functionality (Line 164)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

 

[Kelly]

Thanks and not only that, here is probably what happened:

This generally has to do with display drivers. If you have recently done so
or ran the MS updates to do so, try a rollback via the Device Manager. If
this is not the case, use Ctrl/Alt/Delete and end process on Explorer.exe if
it is listed and either way, then go to File/New Task (Run) and type in:
Explorer.exe.

--
In memory of our dear friend, MVP Alex Nichol: http://www.dts-l.org/

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com