[leftyguitarjoe]

My parent's computer decided to go off the deep end.

They had XP, and their desktop and taskbar would not load.

I figured upgrading to Vista would solve their problem.

Nope.

Now they have vista with no taskbar or desktop.

I have tried running explore.exe from the task manager, bit it tells me that it cannot be found, even though when I browse for the application, it is clearly in the correct directory.

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Is this a typo?

explore.exe

It should be explorer.exe

Hold down the CTRL then hit ESC

Let me know the results

[Magglass]

Is this a typo?

explore.exe

It should be explorer.exe

Hold down the CTRL then hit ESC

Let me know the results

[leftyguitarjoe]

explorer.exe

do'h. haha. I didnt even notice

well, I tried ctrl+esc and nothing happened.

I'm probably going to get them to back up all their stuff and wipe it clean.

[Magglass]

I'm probably going to get them to back up all their stuff and wipe it clean.

You should back up their data first anyway. If they Don't have backup software already installed and you have problems installing backup software let me know.

If CTRL+ESC isn't responding, a viri or some malware has been messing with the registry. You can get to system restore and try to restore the system by.

Start the taskmanager, new task, browse to windows, click on explorer, click OK,
Explorer will start. Right click on computer, click on properties, click on system protection,click continue, click on system restore, pick a system restore before everything went bad. Reboot.

Let me know how you make out.

Edited by Magglass, 29 March 2009 - 10:30 PM.

[hfcg]

The advice that isimaster (magglass) gave was good, except that the computer may still be infected after the system restore.
If you get your desktop back from doing a system restore you will need to go to the mal-ware forum to get the computer clean.
Another way to do a system restore,

Step I. Access the reconvery console using the OS CD. as suggested already you need to have your OS CD to repair it.

To run the Recovery Console from the Windows XP startup disks or the Windows XP CD-ROM, use the following steps:

Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.
When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console and follow the process till you will be at the recovery console command prompt.Getting to the Windows Recovery Console

STEP II. At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines(in blue) then press enter after.

1. cd \ ( Note: between "cd" and "\" there should be a "blank space" else the command won''''t work )
2. cd system~1\_resto~1

If it gives an error "Access Denied" while accessing the folder, follow the method below

cd \ <Enter>
cd windows\system32\config <Enter>
ren system system.bak<Enter>
exit<Enter>

Thenrestart the computer and follow step I.

3. dir

when you hit <Enter> it will list all the restore points folders like rp1,rp2................ we have to see the last restore point to copy the file from a recent backup. if the restore points have more than one page then u have keep on hitting the <Enter> key to view the last restore point folder.

4. cd rp {the last restore point no. } (Note : Example : cd rp9, if rp9 is the last restore point, where last restore point no.=9 )

5. cd snapshot

Now the command Prompt will look like this c:\system~1\_resto~1\rp9\snapshot> ( Note : restore point 9 assumed for clarity of the content, you have to goto the last restore point folder as described in the previous lines) Now according to the error message we have to copy the appropriate file from the restore point folder.

6. copy _registry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\config\system
7. Type Exit then press enter. your computer should restart and don't forget to cross your fingers

The Vista upgrade will not be there after the system restore.