No Taskbar, No Start Menu, No Right-click . . . Help!

The other day, after noticing my memory was running low, I deleted some files and programs I didn't need. It's possible I deleted some sort of virus file that affected my computer or that I deleted some important windows file, though I doubt that since I didn't touch any windows or system folders. But, my start menu and taskbar are gone. CTRL-ESC doesn't do anything; I tried running "explorer" and this didn't help either. I can't right-click on the desktop, so I run all my programs through CTRL-ALT-DEL. I also tried running a clean boot, but this didn't change anything. I ran spybot S&D, my bellsouth spyware remover, and ran a virus scan. I fixed the problems Spybot said to fix and ignored a few that I didn't think were spyware. I also ran a Hijackthis log, but have not posted it anywhere. I used the Spybot to zap the New.Net spyware that the hijack this log found. Basically, I am freaking out because I don't know how to get my computer working correctly. My files are all there and my programs, but I need my Start menu and taskbar! Can anyone help me out here? Thanks!!!! -Bryan

Hi bigbluejackson,
Welcome to TomCoyote,
There may be other malware in your HJT log that needs to be looked at by an expert.

Please Copy/Paste the Log file into our Malware Removal Forum, here:
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/HijackThis_Log…emoval_f27.html

Be patient as there are many logs to be worked on, and the Experts all volunteer their time.

Some info here might help…………

http://ask-leo.com/my_taskbar_is_missing_a…at_do_i_do.html

Hope this helps…..

Regards pacman123

None of this worked. When I look at my task manager (since it's the only thing that I can operate programs through) the explorer.exe process is not running. It's also absent from the list of programs at the top of my HJT log. When I try to run it by typing "explorer" or "explorer.exe" the start taskbar appears for about half a second then goes away. Is this fixable? I can even type in the directory and all for the Windows explorer exe file, but nothing works. I want to avoid a format and reinstall, if at all possible of course. Any ideas? Thanks

Hi bigbluejackson, You did well to follow pacman123's most excellent advice and to post a HJT log in the malware forum. You have a number of undesirable elements present on your machine, so its important for you to follow, exactly the advice of the malware expert when they post a reply to you. Although it's difficult, waiting for a response, please try and be patient, if you can, as the experts on that forum are often snowed under with folks who need their specialised advice and detailed instructions. Be assured however they will get round to you as soon as they possibly can. It's important that you do NOT make an extra post to your thread on the malware forum, until you have had a response from one of the experts there as they tend to look out for unanswered posts as a priority and if you make an additional post they will assume that you are being helped and skip over to the next unanswered one. Once your machine has been declared "clean" by the malware expert, please post back in this forum here, if you have any issues remaining and we will do our best to assist you. Regards paws