Computer help needed!

[The Most High]

My kids were playing on my computer today and now my start menu is gone. I thought they mught have dragged it off screen, but its not there either. I even tried hitting the windows button, no luck.

Anybody out there seen my start menu? Can someone help me get it back, i need it!

 

[Jesusbuiltmygro]

Sounds bad man. Hopefully you found a way past this one, but it can be a real trouble maker.

Check for and remove any programs that may alter the desktop such as Window Blinds or Invisisble or a host of other eye candy programs made for XP.

Does it happen in safe mode? That's the place to diagnose problems. I recommend download the 30 day trial of Nod32 and running that along with a scan from spyboy, adaware, and perhaps trendmicro's online free virus and spyware scanner. Remember to update to the latest definitions for spybot and adaware. Make sure you have no active desktop running it should be in CONTROL PANEL >> DISPLAY >> DESKTOP tab >> CUSTOMIZE DESKTOP >> WEB tab. CTRL + ESC doesn't work either I assume since your Windows button doesn't work. It could be an exploit or system failure also. You can try a repair install with your windows CD, but it may not work anyway. Perhaps a rootkit checker is a good idea also. Ultimately you will spend more time trying to fix this kind of problem than just doing a fresh install of windows. Try out NOD32 if you haven't it's an awesome virus scanner. You can download it every 30 days also It's way better than norton or any of the mainstream scanners IMO. Bitdefender is another good one with a free version.

System Restore might also be a good option if you have a good point to restore to.

 

[ozzy]

Right click an open space on the toolbar at bottom
Enter properties
Hit start menu tab at top
Enable the first option and you should be good to go.

 

[The Most High]

Ozzy I tried that too and the button wouldnt open. I need help!

 

[ogrefugee]

ctrl+alt+delete to bring up task manager

then click file>run...

type in "explorer" (w/o quotes) and then hit ok...

 

[ozzy]

So you enabled
"Start Menu"
Select this style for easy access to etc, etc...

Right?


If that didn't work, go into "customize" and manually select different options and see if any of them work.
It's gotta be it...Ithink.
unless you've got a virus, in which case you could be screwed (I don't think that's the problem).
p.s. You still have your toolbar at the bottom... just no start menu...right?

 

[The Most High]

No i dont have a tool bar either, Im screwed huh?

 

[The Most High]

When I start my computer in safe mode its there but when I start it back regular its still gone.

 

[ozzy]

No i dont have a tool bar either, Im screwed huh?

Nah...you'll figure it out.
couple more suggestions
If your toolbar isn't in the "locked" position, it can be easily "dragged" to any of your four sides of the screen (same way you drag and drop icons).
That combined with "auto hide" enabled could be the problem.
If your PC is still running OK ( no ther oddities), then It's just hiding somewhere, probably minimized.

Oops...just read first post again, seems like you've already tried this.

 

[The Most High]

Im gonna try unpluggung it and see if that helps, maybe I should get the kids to play with it again, maybe they can fix it?

 

[Re Co]

are you sure it isn't hiding as a fine line at the bottom of your screen that you can drag back up?

 

[ogrefugee]

did you try my method?

 

[g13]

System Restore

 

[Rubberband Man]

Is it possible that your monitor was adjusted and that the screen was expanded vertically so that now the task bar is no longer visible?

Play with the monitor and make sure you're seeing everything you're intended to see.

 

[I Used To Grow]

lol..done' be afraid to bicht clap your comp man..lol..ilt's just a piece of plastic..own iT >LO

 

[4iiii'z]

format: C

 

[sirsmokealot]

okay, If it works in safe mode and not in regular mode, that means something is starting up at regular startup thats possibly corrupting your explorer.exe. I would try to run Ad-aware at this link www.lavasoft.nu, also spybot and AVG free edition(AVG is a great free anti-virus with free updates, that usually does the job for me when norton can't do it). Make sure you have current updates. If that does not work, you can try hijack this at your own discretion, you have to be careful with this, delete only your bho's and anything that looks suspicious. also, you can look and see what is running in your registry, in safemode, click on start, run, and type regedit. Scroll to the following location: My Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\microsoft\windows\current version\run. check also run-,runonce,runonce-(these might not be there).this Shows all startup .exe's under your profile. Be careful while working in regedit, but here you should be able to see if anything is starting up that you dont need. try this and let us know what happens. Good luck.

sirsmokealot

 

[Verite]

Doesnt really matter where you are in the sytem. Hitting [ctrl]+[esc] will bring up your start menu. Where you can arrow from there or right click anywhere on your start menu to select its properties.