Missing *everything*, all she sees is her desktop picture.

[waterbaby]

Hi there. Okay, this is a shot in the dark, but I will explain what I can.
My mom has somehow messed her computer up, usually when she does this, I am near by to try to help, but she lives 5 hours away now, and just called me for help, but I am lost.
She says that all she can see from her computer is her desktop picture, no icons, no start menu, nothing. If she puts her arrow to where the start would be, it comes up and she can get to some things that way. She cannot e-mail, nor can she access the net. She is saying she thinks it has something to do with Zone Alarm because it was half way through downloading something and just stopped. I guess she was on the phone to some tech guy (don't ask me who, I have no idea) and he said she'd probably have to take her computer in to get fixed (which is mighty inconvenience since she lives in the middle of nowhere.). She says a warning comes up that says "TrueVector Service has encountered a problem and needs to close, we are sorry for the inconvenience....would you like to send an error report....". She uses XP. That is all I know, my mom isn't the greatest at explaining things to me, so that's all I could get out of her, lol. Oh, and she said she tried System Restore already.
Any suggestions would be helpful, and thanks.

[brett]

Get her to follow the instructions here to uninstall ZoneAlarm. Should the uninstallation fail, she'll need to perform a manual uninstall.

To access her desktop and Start Menu, she should hit Ctrl+Alt+Del, click the Task Manager's Applications tab, click the New Task button, type "explorer.exe" (without the quotes) and then click OK (this might or might not work - it depends on the cause of the problem - and even if it does work, it'll probably only be temporary).

BTW, what happened when she tried System Restore? Did it restore the system to an earlier date (but the problem was still present)? Or ... ?

[Crockett]

Yep, probably a corrupt/incomplete ZA. After she does the uninstall as per Brett's link's, give her this link to get the new download file. Choose to SAVE it first to her computer. Once downloaded, then double click on that file to install it or Start > Run .....browse for the file

[brett]

Originally Posted by Crockett

... give her this link to get the new download file. Choose to SAVE it first to her computer. Once downloaded, then double click on that file to install it or Start > Run .....browse for the file

Click

[Crockett]

Originally Posted by brett

Click

LOL...it's no mistake.

[waterbaby]

*Sigh*
Thanks for your suggestions, I guess tonight when I get home from work, I'll have to have a drink, grab my smokes and prepare for a long phone call with my mom....nobody else wants to do this, eh?

[waterbaby]

Oh! I know!
TEEEEERRRRRIIIIIIII!!!!!!!
*starts kissing arse*

[waterbaby]

Originally Posted by brett

BTW, what happened when she tried System Restore? Did it restore the system to an earlier date (but the problem was still present)? Or ... ?

I just talked to her on the phone,she says "Yeah, I tried system restore to put it back like a week, and it looks like it is doing it and it restarts the computer, but then it doesn't do it, it like, just nothing happens." Those were her words, not mine. Lol.
Also, she said she managed to get into her e-mail this morning, but she knows she isn't receiving all of them, and she can't send any out.

[brett]

Originally Posted by waterbaby

I just talked to her on the phone,she says "Yeah, I tried system restore to put it back like a week, and it looks like it is doing it and it restarts the computer, but then it doesn't do it, it like, just nothing happens."

Once she's removed ZA and the system is back to normal (said with confidence!), simply disabling and re-enabling System Restore should get it functioning (How to turn on and turn off System Restore in Windows XP).

[dragonfly]

Ok, the arse kissin' worked.. I called waterbaby's mom and spent considerable time on the phone trying to get this sorted out. Brett, I followed your instructions and I think we managed to get ZA uninstalled, but the problems that are present are the following:

No task bar what so ever along the bottom. I tried looking everywhere I could think of to try and fix it and bring it back, to no avail.

Cannot connect to the internet, but if she uses Google Desktop, she can connect up to a point there. She can enter search criteria, find items and go to the web page, but then looses the connection shortly after that.

E-mail retrieval is hit or miss. Sometimes she gets it, other times it tries to check and just can't connect to the server. I tried an ip release/renew, but that didn't work either.

I think this is beyond my scope of knowledge on how to help with this. I'm at a loss. Anyone have any ideas or information?

[brett]

How to determine and recover from Winsock2 corruption.

I'll get back to you regarding the taskbar problem.

EDIT: Should she not be using SP2 - and so be unable repair Winsock using the NETSH command - she might find it easier to use this utility (if she can download it) rather than trying to following the instructions in the article.

[brett]

Okay, see whether running the attached - courtesy of the illustrious Kelly Theriot - helps (any warnings thrown out by an antivirus utility can safely be ignored). Reboot after it's been run.

If not, put in the Windows CD, hit Ctrl+Alt+Del to call up the Task Manager and click File > New Task (Run). Type CMD and click OK. In the CMD window, type the following:-

expand x:\i386\explorer.ex_ c:\windows\explorer.exe

(note that the "x" in the above line should be changed to match the letter of the CD/DVD drive).

This command can also be run from the Recovery Console. To access the Console, reboot with Windows CD in the drive and choose the first repair option.

Reboot and see what happens. Should things still not be fixed, take a gander at this article:- Taskbar Is Missing When You Log On to Windows.

Good luck!

[waterbaby]

*hides in a corner*

[Crockett]

Originally Posted by waterbaby

She is saying she thinks it has something to do with Zone Alarm because it was half way through downloading something and just stopped.

Being that Rhonda's mom is pretty computer illiterate how do we know that Zone Alarm was downloading a new version?
It's quite possible (and more likely) it was a ZA popup asking for permission for access from an undesirable program and she allowed it.

Originally Posted by Brett

Once she's removed ZA and the system is back to normal (said with confidence!)

Ya, OK....read on.....

Originally Posted by dragonfly

Brett, I followed your instructions and I think we managed to get ZA uninstalled, but the problems that are present are the following:

No task bar what so ever along the bottom. I tried looking everywhere I could think of to try and fix it and bring it back, to no avail.

Cannot connect to the internet, but if she uses Google Desktop, she can connect up to a point there. She can enter search criteria, find items and go to the web page, but then looses the connection shortly after that.

E-mail retrieval is hit or miss. Sometimes she gets it, other times it tries to check and just can't connect to the server. I tried an ip release/renew, but that didn't work either.

Does Brett still have his confidence.....

Rhonda or dragonfly...get her to post a HijackThis log please if she can get the download.

[dragonfly]

Originally Posted by Crockett

Rhonda or dragonfly...get her to post a HijackThis log please if she can get the download.

Hi Crockett. Just got off the phone with Rhonda's mom. She's going to see if she can get on the internet/email and let me know. If so, we will do a HJT log and post. If not, I don't know how we can get the results posted here. Will keep you posted

[Crockett]

Originally Posted by dragonfly

Hi Crockett. Just got off the phone with Rhonda's mom. She's going to see if she can get on the internet/email and let me know. If so, we will do a HJT log and post. If not, I don't know how we can get the results posted here. Will keep you posted

Do you live closeby her? If so...it will fit on a floppy you can bring over. I'm not saying this is the answer, but I can't take this standing still....LOL

[dragonfly]

Originally Posted by Crockett

Do you live closeby her? If so...it will fit on a floppy you can bring over. I'm not saying this is the answer, but I can't take this standing still....LOL

I hear ya! I wish I did live close by. Unfortunately, they are about 3 hours drive away. She thinks she has HJT on her computer, the problem is getting the connection to the internet to post. I told her if she can at least get email, to email me and let me know, then I will get her to do the log, email it to me and I will post it. That's about all I can do at this point. It's too bad she isn't very literate when it comes to computers. Makes the task more of a challenge..

Oh, but one thing I forgot to mention, when I read part of your post to her about ZA asking for permission, she said she does remember something coming up, but she doesn't remember if she said "allow" or "don't allow".......you may be on the right track here (I hope)

[brett]

>>Does Brett still have his confidence.....<<

Yup I have seen mention of ZA causing this type of issue on a number of occasions. In fact, click on the link I provided to WinSock XP Fix (post #11) and then click on the link to user opinions and you'll find ...

Had problem with uninstalling Zonealarm firewall. Spent 3 days trying to fix errors. Was unable to use 'system restore'. Finally took the gamble and used Winsock XP fix and rebooted. All done! Fixed! All back to normal. What a relief! Thanks for this excellent program.

>>It's quite possible (and more likely) it was a ZA popup asking for permission for access from an undesirable program and she allowed it.<<

Seems a tad unlikely, IMO. Top o' my head, I can't think of any malware which would have such an impact on a system. 'Tis possible tho' that this post could be of some relevance here. Could it be that ZA's scan removed something which hooks into the Winsock2 LSP chain, such as NewNet? Hmmm. Maybe, but that wouldn't explain the loss of the taskbar and desktop. I still suspect ZA

[dragonfly]

Originally Posted by brett

'Tis possible tho' that this post could be of some relevance here. Could it be that ZA's scan removed something which hooks into the Winsock2 LSP chain, such as NewNet? Hmmm. Maybe, but that wouldn't explain the loss of the taskbar and desktop. I still suspect ZA

Did you see what I added to my last post here? She still thinks it has something to do with ZA too. Especially after I asked her about ZA asking permission for something. We may get to the bottom of this yet..

[brett]

Originally Posted by dragonfly

Did you see what I added to my last post here? She still thinks it has something to do with ZA too. Especially after I asked her about ZA asking permission for something. We may get to the bottom of this yet..

Should SP2 be installed, simply running the netsh winsock reset command from a command prompt (to get to the command prompt, click Start > Run > type CMD > click OK) followed by a reboot might be enough to restore her connectivity.

Should SP2 not be installed ... well, the steps are described are in the article to which I linked if you fancy talking her through 'em