Start button and all background icons disappeared!

[JuiceTheGator]

I hadn't used this little laptop for almost a year. But the kids broke the wife's. So, I got out this little Portege tablet laptop.

Well, it works great except the start button and everything on the background disappeared! So, I have to hit ctrl alt delete and open IE (or whatever program) that way.

Where in thee hell did all the shit on the front page go? I backdated it. I closed and re-opened explorer.exe. I ran Spybot. I did all those things as Administrator as well. The shit won't come back.

It's almost enough to make a guy buy a Mac. Not quite...but almost.

 

[KansasSooner]

Right click on the desktop and select Personalization. If you're using Vista or later all the controls for the taskbar, start menu, etc are on the left pane. Should be similar in XP but I hope that you're not using that. For the desktop icons right click on the desktop and select View, Show desktop icons.

 

[JuiceTheGator]

lol. Yep, it's XP Pro. In my defense, I had to get XP Pro to work with the antiquated system at Wells F.

When I right click anywhere on the background, nothing happens. Sometimes I'll stare at it and right click over and over again in disbelief. I think if I created a new user I could change the settings and fix the problem. But how can one change the user without a right click, start button or any of things one normally uses to create a new user??

 

[KansasSooner]

Start task manger and type in Control into the new task box to bring up the control panel. (If that doesn't work, browse to Windows folder and select the Control program)

 

[JuiceTheGator]

Start task manger and type in Control into the new task box to bring up the control panel. (If that doesn't work, browse to Windows folder and select the Control program)

Oh...I didn't know that. That could really make a difference. I was able to bring up the software list for deletion, but nothing new or unusual was on the list.

 

[JuiceTheGator]

I reloaded Service Pack 1a and 3...and it's fixed. ?? Don't ask me how or where they had gone...all I know is they're back and all appears fixed.