PC Booting-up problem

[bullitt2]

Hi, I have a Medion PC purchased from Aldi.
I now have a boot-up problem where I switch on the PC, and it starts to boot up. It reaches the Windows screen ok, but when I logon with my password etc it boots up and presents me with a screen that just shows my wallpaper and nothing else!! ie there are no shortcuts showing on the desktop, and there is no toolbar on the bottom so I cannot click on the "Start" button on the bottom left corner. (I wanted to try the "Resore" option)
I have tried booting up in "Safe Mode" but all I get is a black screen with "safe mode" displayed in each corner and Window XP...Service Pack 3 on the top.
Any ideas?
(I have a Medion "Recovery" disk and "Application-Support" disk)
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[MrHumbug]

It sounds like it's not loading Explorer after boot-up. Investigating why could take some time.

Start by doing this:

Press Ctrl-Alt-Del when looking at your wallpaper only screen. That shold open Task Manager.

In Task Manager click 'File' then 'New Task (Run...)'

In the Create New Task box type 'explorer' (without the quotes) and click OK.

Do you have your normal desktop now?

 

[bullitt2]

Thanks for this.
I am at work at the moment, but will try this when I get home tonight.

 

[bullitt2]

Mr Humbug,Sir!!
Many thanks for your help - which resolved this problem!!
I booted up my PC last night, and was presented with a screen again which just displayed my wallpaper and nothing else. I tried CTL-ALT-DEL which worked, clicked on File/Run and entered "explorer.exe" - which also worked!! All shortcuts were then displayed on the desktop, as well as the Windows toolbar on the bottom of the screen.
Thinking that this might have been the result of some malware -I then ran MalwareBytes - which found 2 trojans!!
Just to be on the safe side, I then ran Adware (Lavasoft) and Sybot which also found some Spyware.
I then rebooted my PC which booted up OK, and all seems to be well!!
So, I just wanted to thank you!! Your effort and response was much appreciated!!! Cheers!
By the way, is there a better Malware/Spyware removal tool out there???

 

[MrHumbug]

Glad it worked. But I was concerned that might not be the end of it if explorer didn't start after a reboot. Sounds like you're OK now though.

For nastyware removal teh Malwarebytes one is very good. Trend's Housecall on-line scanner is also useful, but only if the nastyware isn't blocking access to it

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/

I use AVG free on my home PCs (which isn't the best, but has a good price).

 

[dave.m]

By the way, is there a better Malware/Spyware removal tool out there???

SuperAntiSpyware is the other extremely efficient program for getting rid of nasties.
Like Malwarebytes, it does not provide real time protection but they are both about the best freeware for malware and virus removal.

SAS also has a very good Repair section.
On the Main Menu page click Preferences and click the Repair Tab.
Some very useful items for repairing damage that viruses can do by stopping or blocking or changing systems on your computer.

They are both worth having and updating daily or every couple of days as a 'Just-in-case', because some viruses stop your borwser working and so you cannot download these programs. A quick scan every week to ten days will also flush out any minor problems that may have got past your realtime software.

dave

 

[bullitt2]

Mr Hombug & Dave,
Thanks for this advice I will certainly give them a try. Cheers!!