Missing Half of Start Menu

[cyberstorm5]

I have a PC with Windows XP SP3. Every once in a while, while using it, something weird would happen. The bottom half of the Start menu would be missing, everything from Programs down. When this happens, I cannot launch new applications or right click on any icons or files. Ctrl-alt-del would not do anything either. Any app that I have open would still work. The only way for me to get out of it is to hit the "reset" button to reboot my PC. Has anyone encountered this before? Could this be a virus or something XP related?

 

[montyuk]

bit random, have you tried killing the explorer process in task manager and then manually restarting it?

 

[cyberstorm5]

It is a bit random. I think you meant Windows explorer. Actually Windows explorer was not involved when it happened. I was only using Internet Explorer. I tried killing it, but couldn't since I couldn't get Task Manager to come up or get the right-click menu to come up.

I have a feeling it has something to do with the Windows Genuine Advantage Notification patch that was installed recently. I have a valid version of XP and WGA never complained once. But this started to happen randomly since WGA was installed. I'll remove it and see what happens.

 

[Flakes]

Cyber, explorer is always running as explorer is the program that puts the taskbar at the bottom of your screen,

next time this happens press ctrl-alt-del and end the process 'explorer.exe' then goto file>new task and type 'explorer.exe' into the box that appears and press enter.

if ctrl-alt-del doesnt work try ctrl-shift-esc

 

[montyuk]

cheers Flakes, maybe i should have given slightly more detailed instructions.