Oh no... not again... Argh...

[kelly11]

Well now my computer really needs attention, it's an HP Presario with Windows XP, recently 3rd service pack, the bottom taskbar has just gone missing, so no Start button and no internet, I'm on a public computer and will be for only a few hours, I live out of town so you'll have to excuse me if I don't respond for awhile. so far, I've tried Ctrl/Esc as an alternative to the missing Start button but it's not working, neither is the windows flag button between Ctrl and Alt. I've somehow managed to save some of my files/photos onto simple CD-R disks using Sonic, but they don't hold much, I picked up a Flashdrive thing and I'm hoping it will function with the little control I have, I know some of the bugs have kept me from using Hijack and getting proper help, I'm guessing it's time to save everything I can before jumping ship and reinstalling the OP. this is my first comp I would appreciate any and all help available. especially with not missing things I should be saving before I reinstall. besides file and folders, photos, is there anything else I should remember ? can I save the sites I have in Favorites ? how about all the work I've done on my Google Earth ?

Thanks in advance.

Kelly.

P.S. I'll check back in in a few hours before I leave.

 

[cboucher]

Try pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and clicking on Task Manager. Click on the "Processes" tab. Find the process called "explorer.exe", click on it to select it and click on "End Process". (If it doesn't show up on the processes list, just skip that part). Next, click on the "Applications" tab and then click on "New Task...". In the box that pops up, type "explorer.exe" (without the quotes). This should give you back your task bar and everything on it. The next step would be to figure out why it disappeared in the first place...

 

[kelly11]

Thanks cboucher, tried all that, still no taskbar.

 

[Remeniz]

Thanks cboucher, tried all that, still no taskbar.

Press Ctrl + Esc.

 

[kelly11]

Thanks Remeniz, I've tried that too with no luck, now I'm just trying to save as much as I can onto CD-RWs but it's not so easy. some of the disks I can only save maby 250mb if I try any more it says it doesn't work and asks me to burn the disk again, I tried DVDs too but they won't work.

 

[berry120]

Have you not got an external hard drive or a second internal one you could use? That'd be much easier than copying everything to CDs and DVDs! If not, they're rather cheap and would make your life much easier.

As an aside, you may find it easier getting the data off if you boot up into knoppix (or similar) and mount the drive there.

 

[Remeniz]

What anti-virus software are you running?

 

[berry120]

Oh and while I think of it (forgot to mention it before) do you get the same issue in safe mode? Keep tapping F8 as your computer boots up, select safe mode from the list and see if your task bar reappears. If so then it's not a solution, but it should give a better idea of what might be causing the problem.

 

[kelly11]

Thanks you guys for your help, my computer is back up a running now, I tried all sorts of suggestions but I guess my computer was just too messed up, I've had to reinstall the operating system and start from scratch, since my computer should be fairly bug free I've decided to buy a Seagate Replica to back things up, hopefully not so much work next time. thanks again.

Kelly.