ozwanderer

Thanks for your patient help.

Well .... Thanks for the help Ken and etavates, but now I don't have the issue anymore! The last 3 boots have been clean. The only thing I can think of is - prior to these clean boots I was playing with user accounts. I just have the one admin account so boot straight to the desktop. Just to see what happens I turned on the guest account, logged off mine and onto guest. Then I logged off, logged back into my account and turned off the guest account. Since then (I'm fairly certain) there has been no problem. Any ideas?? BTW etavares, It did happen in Safe Mode, there is nothing else wrong (hence my reluctance to rebuild again) and it was not an issue before the recent rebuild. If it does come back I'll give the PsList procedure a go.

The plot thickens...... Now I've worked out that it isn't Task Manager that is enabling desktop to work normally - it is just pressing Ctrl Alt Del that does it. If I cancel the screen that comes up, normal service is resumed! Still don't know why though.

Don't reboot............ There's no way to test if it has worked other than rebooting, as it only happens at bootup. To get and run Rkill I would have to use Task Manager to get round the problem and then it is solved anyway. Do you mean run Malware bytes immediately after the Rkill fix??

Well, I've done the System File Scan - it did find corrupt files and successfully repaired them, and supplied an enormous log file. But on reboot the problem is still there.

First the MBAM log: Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.70.0.1100 www.malwarebytes.org Database version: v2013.01.31.09 Windows Vista Service Pack 2 x86 NTFS Internet Explorer 9.0.8112.16421 1/02/2013 6:27:10 AM mbam-log-2013-02-01 (06-27-10).txt Scan type: Full scan (C:\|) Scan options enabled: Memory | Startup | Registry | File System | Heuristics/Extra | Heuristics/Shuriken | PUP | PUM Scan options disabled: P2P Objects scanned: 374275 Time elapsed: 1 hour(s), 26 minute(s), 37 second(s) Memory Processes Detected: 0 (No malicious items detected) Memory Modules Detected: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Keys Detected: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Values Detected: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Data Items Detected: 0 (No malicious items detected) Folders Detected: 0 (No malicious items detected) Files Detected: 3 C:\Our downloads\util RegKill2702.exe (Adware.CommonName) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully. C:\Our downloads\setup (1).exe (PUP.Offerware) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully. C:\Our downloads\setup.exe (PUP.Offerware) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully. (end)

Sorry my "reply with quote" doesn't seem to work ... The install was complete. Windows Update was set to automatic before I realised and took control. Besides I have a wife who uses the computer more than I do and she needed to get back to it quickly. The Quick Launch icons do behave differently from Desktop icons. Strange. Yes, the Properties window does seem to be giving the correct info re. the Target. The machine came with Vista and Toshiba Utils on a hidden partition. First install was done from there after purchase, and my current reinstall comes from there too. BTW have you removed your post about Malwarebytes? I ran it and it removed 3 minor cases from my Download folder (uninstalled setup files) The initial problem remains. Jim

I've just rebooted to have a look - right click on items in Quick Launch tray has no effect; on desktop >Properties the normal info appears (Target pathway etc) but the window will do no more - move, close, minimise, open another tab - none of these works. Firing up Task manager makes all ok.

Rebuilt=return to out of the box state-reformat HDD, reinstall OS and other programs. No hardware issues.

This one has me baffled at the moment - I've just rebuilt my laptop with Vista Home Premium, SP2 and all updates. After what looks like a normal bootup, applications will not start. The mouse moves normally over icons, but will not show the info popup in the Quick Launch or the System Tray. Clicking these icons is ineffective. I can open other items on the desktop - eg Computer - but this will not explore further or close. The only workaround I have at the moment is to start Task Manager, and this is the baffler. As soon as TM is opened everything behaves normally and continues to do so until next bootup. Closing TM immediately is also ok. I've uninstalled Avast AV and installed MSE instead, both seem to work but the problem remains (it was also there before I finished the updates) I've put Task Manager in Startup, but this doesn't work. Only running TM manually after startup seems to have an effect. Any ideas??