Okay, all of you technological wizards...a guy I work with has major problems on his home computer. When he powers it up, all he gets is the desktop picture; no icons, no taskbar. I've done a little bit of research on the web and I've seen several "solutions" posted, but most seem pretty complicated. All he can do is start "Task Manager." Any ideas on some things he can try before he has to shell out a couple hundred bucks to a repair person?

I doubt it's this simple, but this is where he should start.

If he can open Task Manager, have him click on the Processes tab and sort by CPU. Whatever the highest number is (probably hanging at around 99) is the culprit process. Select it, then hit End Process. If it's not that obvious, sort by the Mem Usage column, and kill whatever the highest process there is. He might want to note the offending processes and see what exactly it is they are supposed to be doing before he does this.

Also, see if he can start in Safe Mode before doing the above.

If safe mode works, have him go into computer management (right-click "my computer" select "manage"), and go to the event viewer and see if there is any message there about a process hanging or failing to start, any kind of error.

If he goes to the blank screen again, and pulls up task manager, have him click "file" "new task (run)", and type "explorer.exe in the box. If that brings up the regular desktop, he'll have to find out why explorer isn't starting up, but at least he'd be in windows.

Last thing, try a system file check. Start/run, type in "cmd" (no quotes), and then in the command window type "sfc /scannow" (no quotes). Might get prompted for his windows install cd a time or two if it finds problems.

If there were only some way to link up the nerd power in this thread, with the nerd power over in the D&D discussion, and harness that power -- whoa, buddy.

Could the problem with the computer be . . . silverfish?

Have him buy a Mac!
yeah ok that was small and petty, and maybe even not WAN..........sorry. Maybe he should reinstall his system software?

Are they after the porn on the computer?

That's a possibility. Kevin, does he like porn, and what kind is it? Can you describe the porn in detail?

Mac people: problems like this are less a problem with Windows and more a problem with the multitude of software that is written for Windows not working with it properly. Since there isn't a multitude of software written for Mac, I can see why Mac owners might not be familiar with the difference. Put another way, Macs are trouble free in part because people don't do anything with them.

An eery silence descended over nerdville. A dog barked in the distance.

That's why Macs are generally virus-free. Hackers generally don't care about Macs.

That's also why I'm gonna stay with Windows 98 as long as possible. Nobody cares about that anymore, either.

Not true, but hey, to each their own.

Macs are nice...












paperweights.

Don't tell my brother I said that.

I can't abide the smugness of Mac and Steve Jobs. I refuse to use a Mac, even if they are better, just for spite.

Who is this "Mac" of whom you speak?

See? That's what I'm talking about.

I would like to be that runner from the famous "1984" commercial. But I would come in and smash the Mac's.

Hey, to each their own. Although I fail to see how Steve Jobs is any more smug than Bill Gates.

Ted, that was my humorous retort to the un-WAN post of Hugh Cherry who was also being humorous. I like Windows, but am not married to it. I plan to make a Knoppix disc to run Linux from time to time and I considered buying a Mac until the "no software" thing bit me in the butt.

Mac and Windows have each had a shot in this thread. Game over, man.

Just look at those latest commercials with the "cool guy" on the right and the poor nerd guy on the left. Could they be more condescending? "I won't bother to tell you why, or what makes it different. Stuff just works better on a Mac."

I was only commenting on the "no software" thing. I have personally never had much trouble finding software I need for my Mac. I'm not a heavy gamer though and I'm not really picky about the sotware as long as it does what I need.

It doesn't sound like he's the only one who ever encountered this:

http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com/fo ... r-log.html

( Google <B>virus blank desktop</B> for other links. )