[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Really need some help. Please PM a phone number to call if you are willing.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Shut down, boot up while pressing the F8 key, then take the option to restore to a previous point in time from the menu.

[mainevet]

have you tried booting up in safe mode?

[MeganC]

Sounds like a spyware issue I had this past week.

Try this, navigate to the Desktop in C: Documents and Settings\ (user) and then right click on it and go to Properties. On the Attributes check and see if it the box for ‘Hidden’ is checked - if so, uncheck it.

Start there. :-)

[Smogger]

Start -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore.

Click Next.

Select a date to restore to.

Click Next.
Click Next.

[Mygirlsmom]

Right click on desktop. Choose “Arrange Icons By...” and make sure there is a check mark under “Show Desktop Icons”

[library user]

Click your Start button and go to “Help and Support.”

Click the “Undo changes to your computer with System Restore” link.

In the screen which pops up, click NEXT.

Click a date on the calendar from before this happened and click NEXT.

Click NEXT one final time.

Then let it do its thing and once it’s rebooted, you should be back to normal.

[ShadowAce]

[roamer_1]

Let’s start with what you think you deleted...

[allmost]

Do you have a start menu?

[Lucky9teen]

Open up Recycle Bin and restore files there...

[Paladin2]

This would be a good time to back up your files.

[allmost]

Pull the plug, reinsert plug, hit f8.

[library user]

If what I suggested in #8 doesn't work, try this:

Download unhide.exe & save it to your desktop.

Double-click on unhide.exe to run it.

Reboot

This will unhide folders/files that were set to be hidden (in the event of an infection).

Let me know if that solved your problem.

[Dilbert56]

My parents’ machine had that happen. There’s actually a way to turn off the displaying of icons on the desktop.

To resolve this behavior, turn on the Show Desktop Icons feature:
Right-click the desktop.
Point to Arrange Icons By.
Click Show Desktop Icons.

[Marine_Uncle]

Just be careful of any advice you get here. I assume you have not in the past created recovery disks, did any backups or have gone through the trouble of creating "restore points" where one in essence has the system save a lot of critical files required to maintain say your desktop attributes.
If this is the case I cannot offer you any help in how to restore to an earlier backup.
You may be best served to just pay say a Geek Squad employee that operates out of the BestBuy chain of stores, to come in and see what they can do. It sounds like you will need quite a bit of fixing done.
BUT. Since you still have the recycle Bin Icon showing. Right mouse click on it, choose Open and if you get the explore window coming up showing a lot of files. Carefully look for in the top area of the explorer window for the option Restore all Items. Then reboot your system. Beyond that, it can get hairy. What the action I suggest will do is put back all files that you have been deleting. Whenever you delete a file, it goes to that directory named recycle. So the file is still on your system. If you never have done this before you will find tons of stuff in that directory.
By restoring the files to their original directories you will upon rebooting find things have changed on your system.
One last note. If this can bail you out for the most part. Do remember. From now on. When you delete a file. Then right click on the recycle icon on your desktop. Decide if you really want to trash the file(s) forever.
Hope this helps you.

[Berlin_Freeper]

trouble shooting

[allmost]

Follow post #18. Try last good configuration if available. If not boot as best you can and hit the windows key on your keyboard, if no key, hit tab until start highlights. From the start menu highlight run. Type cmd. Inside that box type ‘sfc /scannow’. Hit enter.

[eyedigress]

get a copy of combofix from bleeping computer. turn off your anti-viral stuff and run it. This is a very powerful program that needs to run independent of AV software. Disconnet from the internet.