About a month or so ago, I was using "Revo Uninstaller" to uninstall things I felt were unneccesary. I used the Advanced Removal to get rid of everything related to the program. I went online to read about each program before deleting it, to confirm deletion was safe. Unfortunately, once I restarted my computer, My Desktop Icons, Start Menu, & Taskbar disappeared, leaving only my Desktop Background & the ability to use Task Manager to access the majority of my programs. Not sure if this caused it, but it was the "very last thing" I did.
I've done numerous hours of searching the internet, & finally decided to get professional advice/help related to my "specific" situation. I've read many scenario's similar to mine & at some point in the Tech's troubleshooting process, it didn't seem to fit my specific scenario in a safe manner, so I need direct help.
Here are some things I've tried to no avail/and also some issues:
1. Replaced a copy of explorer.exe into the Registry over the existing one per a video I watched
2. Ran Avast, CCleaner, Registry Mechanic, Windows Doctor, System Restore-Truly Useless, Malwarebytes (No Viruses)
3. Using the Run utility in Task Manager: explorer.exe, control.exe & Similar (The Start Menu/Taskbar comes up very briefly-blinks then gone)
4. I've ran sfc.exe /scannow (No issue found)
5. I tried downloading an ISO Image XP SP2 File to burn to Disc, and it does actually download to a folder I specify, but when I try to use the Free ISO Image Burner to open the File, it says it doesn't exist. Plus when I go to the Folder it's just blank. However, when I try another download, I see the previous download in the Folder! This happens to several different types of downloads of files/programs, yet at times I've had success. Quite Strange!
6. I tried doing an XP Repair using the I386 folder, by selecting WINNT32 but a message came up immediately stating exactly: "The option to upgrade will not be available at this time because setup was unable to load the file C:\Windows\I386\Winntupg\Netupgrd.DLL This system cannot find the file specified." I select ok, and it brings up a window to do a New Install of XP with risk of losing existing data, etc...WHICH I WANT TO AVOID. Yes I've backed up important things to me for the most part, but don't want to have to reinstall everything again, and all the user settings, IE stuff, etc. if it's possible to avoid by other solutions that may be quicker/easier or the like.
I can try to borrow another XP Disc from family/friends but I suspect it must match SP2/my Specific computer, etc.
Maybe if you can look at info on my system using HijackThis or log files and such, the problem can be found.
Thanks!!! Patiently waiting for a reply.
P.S. I've probably tried other solutions, but I can't remember what they are at this point & it's bedtime.
So, any thoughts, actions, solutions from the Geeks to go Squad?!