Help with fixing a machine...

[wellhellothere]

Couple of minor problems i'm having with a pc im fixing. Primarly, the main problem was the PC was shutting down automatically - i solved this using the 'shutdown -a' fix. I rebooted the machine to find that the taskbar has hidden itself.

I've not come across this problem before - explorer.exe is running so its not the obvious...

I suspect a virus, so im trying to copy malware bytes from one machine to the faulty machine in question, which leads me to my next problem - the machine wont recognise the USB stick. I've tried microsofts fixes (deleting upper and lower filters from the registry, but to no luck).

Any help with these problems would be great! Thanks

 

[Deviousmind]

Try pushing CTRL+ESC. If CTRL+ESC didn't make it come back, then the program that displays the task bar most likely isn't running. That program is often called the "Windows Shell", but it's really "explorer.exe". It's the program that not only displays the Taskbar, but also responds to the CTRL+ESC sequence.

The workaround: press CTRL+ALT+DEL to fire up the Task Manager. Now on the File menu, select New Task (Run...). Type in "explorer" and press OK. That should restart explorer and re-display your Taskbar.

 

[wellhellothere]

Hmm, like i mentioned - explorer.exe was already running. I managed to solve the problem anway, really not sure how though...

Moving on however - im having more complex problems now. I cant seem to edit anything in services.msc. The "extended" tab looks odd, with nothing in it except a blue square in the top left corner. The "standard" tab looks in order, but as i said - i cant edit anything, start or stop.

I need to start the Crytographic service to install Windows Installer, but i cant start the process without being able to make any changes to services.msc. Any idea what this is about? (i've already tried starting the process using command prompt, but no luck).