My icons and task bars dissapeared!!

Either your system is really corrupted, or you've got a virus. The only think that comes to mind is to go to task manager, find explorer.exe and click End Process, then click File > New Task (Run...) and type explorer.exe. This will reload explorer and possibly fix the issue.

It sounds like explorer.exe is being turned off. When you log in to Safe Mode hit Ctl+Alt+Del to bring the Task Manager and see if explorer.exe is running under Processes. If not, you can go to the Applications tab in Task Manager and click the New Task button and simply type in explorer.exe.
If this does not give you your Start Menu and Task Bar then you need to take your computer back to the repair service and have them fix it properly this time. Otherwise, you'll have to reinstall the operating system.

Hey,

1. try to open the windows explorer and in the address bar type the address of any website.

2. right click on the task bar and then choose the option task manager, select the tak processes and then check for instances of the application iexplore. In casse there are multiple, select one and click on end process. repeat the same for all instances

3. In case still inaccessiable, try to restart the computer.

4. If the issue still persists, try uninstalling the application using the control pannel and add remove programs, Add remove windows components.

If the problem still persists, use a different browser

When on the screen, and you have no icons hold control(ctrl) down and shift key and press escape(esc) your windows task manager should appear, goto the applications tab, at the bottom goto the tab New Task and left click, another window should appear with a text bar, type in the text bar explorer.exe and click ok, all the icons and your normal screen should reapear.

If your screen goes back to normal goto the start bar and goto run or search and type "regedit".
When the regedit window appears left click the " + " sign next to Hkey_local_mechine the the plus sign on software, scroll down to Microsoft folder and click the plus sign, scroll down to Windows nt folder and click the plus sign, the plus sign on Current version folder, then scroll down to winlogon folder and left click on the folder icon, on the right hand side of the screen look for "shell" double click on the icon and delete everything in the text bar and type explorer.exe and click ok and exit out of the window, restart the pc and everything should be back to normal.

pls post back and tell me what happens.cheers.

the icons and the bar(task bar) at the bottom of the screen are enabled by the explorer.exe file

it starts automatically but in your case it is not starting

to start it when your computer starts and comes at the desktop, press alt+ctrl+delete button at the same time to bring up the task manager

when you do this a task manager shows up in a window

in task manager window click on file, it will be located on the top left portion on task manager

now click on "new task(run)"

this opens another window, in that window type
"explorer"
without the quotes "" and press enter
this will bring you icons and task bar at the bottom of the screen

explorer.exe is what displays the icons and the startup bar on the screen so try opening explorer.exe from the task manager. Or if it is already running close it and then reopen it.

Do this when your system icon go missing.
(volume, network, clock & power)

CLEARING THE TRAY ICON HISTORY

> run 'regedit.exe'

> goto key 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \TrayNotify'

> delete keys 'IconStreams' & 'PastIconsStream'

> start task manager, go to processes and kill explorer.exe

> go to applications in the task manager, hit new task and type 'explorer.exe'

> explorer will now reboot and woohey, your icons should return.

Hi,
Looks as if the explorer is not starting up automatically. Try to start the explorer manually by Clicking Ctrl+Alt+Del keys together. This will turn on the Windows Task Manager. Then go to File in task manager> Click on New task(Run)> type explorer.exe This should start up the PC...

Try to boot Vista into Safe Mode. Tap the F8 Key right after you turn on the computer until you get the Advanced Boot Up Menu
and use the keyboard arrow keys to select Safe Mode. The next screen may ask you to select your operating systm. Select Vista, not the Recovery Console.

Does your task bar and icons appear in safe mode? If so, it might be one of your start up programs that is failing and causing explorer.exe to fail during normal boot-up into Windows and not allowing your taskbar and icons to appear. Click Start and type in msconfig and hit enter then click the Start Up tab and look at all the programs that start up when Vista is starting up. Do Not uncheck anything in the list that you do not recognize as you may uncheck drivers or Vista starting programs that you computer needs to start up Vista properly. Google anything you don't recognize and uncheck any Start Up programs you do not need to start when Vista boots up, like Quicktime player or Adobe Reader for example. (This would also help your boot up time into Vista)

Sounds like explorer.exe crashed. Try opening up the Task Manager again, and Click File > New Task and type in explorer.exe. See if the task bar and your desktop icons appear.

If they appear for a brief moment then disappear again, the Windows explorer.exe is corrupted. Explorer.exe will try to start and then fail again. You may need to use System Restore to bring your computer back to a date and time when the computer was working properly, before the Vista update.

Sounds like the explorer.exe process might be restarting. Open Task manager and keep refreshing the processes to see if explorer.exe disappears/re-appears.