LOST START MENU AND TASKBAR WIN7 32bit

marc1964 · 05 Mar 2012

(very novice pc experience)
re- LOST START MENU AND TASK-BAR WIN7
about a week ago i ran a scan from Avira and 1 issue came up and without thinking i clicked delete and deleted an infected bad file (i know from now being told that two malware/virus programs are not good as they can conflict and have since removed avira antivirus and only have AVAST installed now) anyway after a re-boot the next day i noticed both the Task bar and Start Menu had disappeared, on doing some google'ing of the problem and reading of some similar problems/remedies opened the task manager and deleted and replaced i think a explorer.exe file in start-up but the problem remained, after running a copy of a back up repair disc managed to get into ADMIN and CMD, entered SFC/scannow and got a message saying ''there is a system repair pending which requires a re-boot to complete, re-start and run SFC again'' i did this 5 times only to get the same message, i have tried to understand various helpful suggestions on a different web win7 forum but i just have not got the tech knowledge to follow their instructions, from my very limited experience i have a gut feeling i must of deleted a system file but just can not get into the system to fix it without the start menu, i can get into CMD but only by running the repair disc, right clicking and running as admin' doesn't work or does the SFC, surely there must be a way i can get the Task bar and Start Menu back without having to re-format/re-install?, can somebody help in being patient in helping resolve this very frustrating problem, many thanks in advance,

i have a repair disc i made last year to hand and both win 7 pro 32 bit and 64 bit install discs, unfortunately i did not make a system image disc, i have tried to revert back to the time just before i did the infected file removal but something stopped that from working, maybe the 2 virus programs installed, (since removed one) maybe there is more to the problem than this one file i removed i just do not know or understand,

A previous suggestion was to do SFC offline in ''X'' instead of ''C'' but i got totally lost there, i tried my best in following the experts instructions and think they gave up trying through my lack of expertise in using PC's

FliGi7 · 05 Mar 2012

If you can't perform a system restore and SFC isn't working, it sounds like the only option left is to do a Repair Install or a complete format and reinstall.

Jacee · 05 Mar 2012

Put Unhide on a "Clean" flash drive and then use it on the infected machine
UnHide: http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/grinler/unhide.exe

marc1964 · 06 Mar 2012

FliGi7 said:

If you can't perform a system restore and SFC isn't working, it sounds like the only option left is to do a Repair Install or a complete format and reinstall.

tried a restore back to 29th feb 12 but that hasn't resolved the missing menu / task-bar,

I found some instructions re running the repair disc 3 times as it can take 3 attempts to find/fix issues in missing files but that didn't repair anything, then i entered in CMD (from a tutorial you suggested in the forums tutorial section 681 startup repair) saying to run SFC in off boot, entered "SFC/SCANNOW/OFFBOOTDIR=C:\ /OFFWINDIR=C:\windows" but got confused with the 3 options it came up with so was reluctant to enter or try anything more in case i did harm etc,

re: removal of an infected file from a scan i did prior to the Start / Task-bar disappearing, i was wrong in thinking it was Avira that i removed and deleted an infected file, on checking back it was in Avast that i moved a file into the virus vault and in fact didn't delete it, the file in the Avast vault is named ''ffe50-slaicb.dll'' and location is '' C:\windows\system32\efifnk '' i tried a google search of the file but i can not seem to find what it is, i tried clicking "restore" but do not think i know how or where to put it, just hopeless at these things, would you think this said file has anything re the missing Task-bar and Start Menu going missing?,

AddRAM · 06 Mar 2012

Can you get to the start menu and taskbar properties in the control panel ?

Press CTRL+ESC. If your Taskbar magically reappears, then it's probably simply been resized too small, repositioned somewhere you didn't expect it, or perhaps it's beneath another application that's running full-screen on your computer.

marc1964 · 06 Mar 2012

AddRAM said:

Can you get to the start menu and taskbar properties in the control panel ?

Sorry i am not sure AddRam, just not experienced enough to find a way to there with no Menu, unless i have step by step instructions,

AddRAM · 06 Mar 2012

Ya I guess that 1st suggestion was stupid. Smacks self in the head.

marc1964 · 06 Mar 2012

AddRAM said:

Ya I guess that 1st suggestion was stupid. Smacks self in the head.

not at all, any suggestions are most welcome,

marc1964 · 06 Mar 2012

Jacee said:

Put Unhide on a "Clean" flash drive and then use it on the infected machine
UnHide: http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/grinler/unhide.exe

ok, i will have to go out and buy a flash drive as i don't think i have one, and try your suggestion, can i ask what that will un hide, many thanks.

marc1964 · 06 Mar 2012

might sound silly but would up grading to Win7 64bit restore the Task-bar and Start menu? or is that not practical? as i have a copy of each in the box i originaly bought, just a off subject question but what is the difference between the two? 32 and 64bit?