Lose desktop

[garebo]

I run adaware, spybot, hijack this on a regular basis. Still, the problem could be related to malware.

Anyway, now and again i lose my desktop. All i have is the color, no tray, no icons, nothing. Using task mgr i can sometimes get it all back, other times to no avail and i have to reboot.

Would anyone know why this is happening?

P4 2.4 w 1 gig ram
win xp pro w sp1 - dont trust sp2 yet
norton av
goback - i doubt goback has anything to do with this.
I do have a ton of progs & utils, i do keep the startup down to a minimum and i manually clean up regedit after uninstalls. I have checked the win xp FAQ here, dont seem to find anything related to this prob.

Thanks


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[garebo]

I forgot to mention. Last time this problem happened, i was copying a single file from a floppy to my desktop.
and come to think of it, if i recall correctly, my a drive might have been involved a few times before.


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[poetstrm]

Hi, this might not be your problem but sometimes a similar thing happens to me. I get a blank screen with no icons. Sometimes there is a start bar that does not respond, sometimes nothing but my mouse. It seems the actual explorer.exe program crashes. It can be restarted through task manager yes but usually it happens when the computer becomes overloaded either by memory usage or CPU usage. Are you running a lot of programs or is the file transfer causing trouble? In XP if you hit Ctrl, ALt, Delete you can go to performance on the tabs and see how much CPU and memory you're using. Hope that helps!

 

[garebo]

Yes, i have checked the usage and i dont understand.
All i have to do is move the mouse and i get like 75% usage, which doesnt make sense to me.
I guess i have a lot of work to do to find out the source, but, yes, often i get a lot of slowdown. Also, when dragging folders to recycle bin, its a slow,jittery process lately, tend to overshoot the bin, have to really work at it. Sure, i could just do a cut and paste, still it shows some kind of problem.
I have the same win xp pro as i installed about 3 or 4 yrs ago and i do have a ton of progs on it, a real ton. This may have something to do with it. And I also visit places i shouldnt, not porn as i have strong feelings against that, but i go to other places that cant be mentioned here. Usually i run goback after such a visit as i know they are rife with virus, trojans, malware, etc.
It could be a result of all these issues i guess, but i dont know for sure, thats why i'm here, the best place to get tech help!

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[garebo]

Another thing, if its a memory prob, isnt my page file supposed to get a lot of usage? My page file shows, if i read it correctly, that the maximum usage has been pretty low, a small percentage of whats available, maybe 10 to 20%, something like that is the max.


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[garebo]

Can i get some more response here, please.
Still have the prob.

thanks


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[Frank4d]

Does this always happen when you right click on a folder? And is Webroot Spysweeper running in the taskbar?

 

[garebo]

Doesnt always happen, intermittent problem.

I dont have webroot installed, but i do have adaware, hijack this, norton av, antihacker and trojan expert, m\soft (former giant) antispyware, stinger, spybot s&d1.3.
I keep my system fairly clean as i do sometimes visit some potential trouble zones, not porn but the other umentionable places, hint ...ez. lol.

Sometimes my computer locks up, i cant do a thing, but if i leave it for a minute or so then i temporarily lose all desktop, taskbar, etc, just my wallpaper is there, then, if a few seconds, it all comes back. But sometimes nothing comes back, all i have is the wallpaper, which is a cool pic of Neo. I dont think Neo is involved with this, lol.




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[garebo]

I just ran m\soft (formerly giant) antispyware and it says system is clean.


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[bcastner]

Disble GoBack.
Better yet, remove it.

 

[garebo]

No way!!

Seriously, its better than system restore, imho.
I'm not near the level you are, so its a safety fall-back for me, not ready to give it up yet. Sometimes system restore wont work and goback will, although sometimes its reversed. I would rather have system restore turned off.

I'd like to know what you say that? Bet you're itching to tell me, lol.
Just kidding around, we have our likes and dislikes, and often its a matter of having the knowledge vs not having it.


thanks


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[Frank4d]

There is a known problem with Spysweeper where right clicking on a folder causes explorer.exe to crash. To correct the problem start Spysweeper and under "Options" uncheck the box for 'Add to context menu'.

I understand there are other applications that cause explorer.exe to crash too... also related to context menu entries.

 

[bcastner]

I must confess to no fondness for GoBack in its 3.x releases. I have not tried the version that comes with SystemWorks 2005.

I did use it for a while. I just found it slowed things down, and as my hard drives filled it slowed things down progressively.

I have been testing RAXCO First Defense for a month, and like it:

http://www.raxco.com/products/fdisr/

but it is too early to tell if I will keep that either.

But as you can disable GoBack at boot, do so and test the speed of your system with it off. You owe yourself a before and after examination of your system to help discover why it appears to be running slow.

 

[garebo]

I dont have spysweeper installed and never did, missed out on the fun, lol.

I have been a fan of goback from day one when they were a small startup company called Wildfile. I'm pretty sure Goback was their only product.
Anyway, the new version 4, I find, is a lot better, lot more options, and doesnt seem to drag the system down like earlier versions, 4 is actually a lot better than 3.
Yes, there is a performance hit, but i find its worth it.
I will try your suggestion, though.
I find that another culprit is norton systemworks. I stopped using it a long time ago. To me, most of the progs in systemworks are more trouble than the troubles they fix, and they cause their own nightmares. So i only use norton and goback. Ghost is good too. Its mainly the small progs inside systemworks that are the problem, the disk and disk cleaning and file cleaning progs, with exception of ghost.
The norton progs that fix windows registry and shortcuts, progs like speedisk and such, forget it, they cause system breakdowns to the point of re-install. I keep my install of my os going for years now without re-formatting and starting again, not like when i didnt know better and relied on systemworks.
Maybe i will get away from goback too but the small progs in systemworks, to me, are 10 times worse than goback.






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[linney]

How does it perform in Safe Mode? If you find an improvement then you will have to play Detective and one by one eliminate possible causes.

310353 - How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

316434 - HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

310560 - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310560&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

FAQ779-4784 may help.

windows XP running very slow
thread779-796508

Desktop missing!
thread779-613953

 

[garebo]

Its gonna take me some time to check this all out and report back.

First, my monitor died, fortunately i have a spare 22 in monitor, prob solved. That was early this morning.
Yesterday my hot water tank started leaking water all over tile and carpet in family room. So today i have to go get a new hot water tank and install it after work.
So i wont be around for a couple days.



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[bobw]

You could also check out the event log in Start/settings/control panel/administrative tools/event viewer click on "application" or "system" in the left window and see what it reports was the last problem before this happened. Mostly look for any events with a red mark "error" before it. It's not always easy to understand but might give you more direction.
Bob W

 

[garebo]

In application section I have a lot of errors:
most of them are number 5007 and 1000

In security i have none, hm.... amazing?

In system section its mostly lots of number 7001

I will have to check these out at m\soft when i get time.


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[bobw]

These can be checked out at eventid.net - this is not a solution, but gives you a direction to go in.
Bob W

 

[garebo]

Tried eventid, not a lot of available info so far, wants me to sign up and pay for service.


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