No start menu or icons on desktop (WinXP)

Help me please :-),

I have no start menu or desktop icons.
I have Windows XP.
How do I get back to life being good again?

Right click the desktop and select a theme.

Your post isn't very descriptive. You might try giving us a few more details as there are a couple different things that ca cause that.

Does this always happen? Just sometimes? Like Eclipce said, you need to give out more information before you can get some help.

Cross posting from another discussion:

I know it's probably too late to help you, but I'm posting this anyway, in case somebody stumbles upon this thread while looking for a solution to the same problem (like I did, while searching on Google).

This problem can occur when you are infected with a virus that seems to be unreported on symantec or any of the other anti-virus resources I've found.

If you can get to task manager, go to the Processes tab, and look for a process called 'SYSU.EXE'. If it's running, kill it.

Now, if your desktop suddenly returns to normal, then yes, you've got this virus. You're not out of the woods yet. There is probably a folder on your machine called 'C:\Program Files\ddm'. Delete that, of course. You'll probably also want to search your registry for the string 'ddm' and kill most of what you find. In particular the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ddm, and anything under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run and/or RunOnce that refers to 'ddm' or 'sysu.exe'.

As usual, I'll include that this entire procedure is something you should undergo with great care, or leave to a computer guru friend if you're not comfortable with it.

I hope this information saves someone out there a few frustrating hours of hair pulling. Your mileage may vary.

umdesch4

Umdesch,

I COULD hug yoooo !! Came across this at 4am today cos I refused to sleep until I sorted this PC out, and after reading/following your insruction... ohh you should've seen me jiggling about on the chair. It worked.. THANK YOU for posting it.. saves me from having to do anything major.

Tracy

i have this problem since i changed m/board and cpu so used this and hope it will cure me problem thanks

Is it the same for Windows ME?

BTW, whats task manager (i'm an idiot, please tell me)

Task manager is the program when you use Ctrl Alt & Del

I think it's the same for all windows as I've seen other post that had same probem on Win2000, so my guess would be yes.

Tracy

But there is no processes tab. When I Ctrl+alt+del all that appears is one program, Avgserv9, and the options to end task, shut down or cancel.

When I start my computer up, a grey background appears, then the taskbar at the bottom appears for about a second, then it disappears and all that's left is an empty screen.

You'll have to bear with me, I'm only 15!

I cant remember what ME's task manager looked like.. otherwise I'd tell you how to kill the sysu.exe - There's a file that's connected with it.. it should be called ddm in C:/Program/ddm

How do I access it if I have no taskbar or desktop icons?

Use task manager by pressing Ctrl Alt & Del - it should come up with the list of what you're running.

But the only thing running is Avgserv9

What tabs have you got on Task Manager .. sorry I cant explain things properly as I dont know what WinME's Task manager's like