Taskbar disappeared, help

[baiani]

Hello!

This is my first time posting in a forum for help so please bear with me! Earlier this week my computer got infected with a trojan. I realized this as soon as I turned on my computer and my taskbar disappeared and couldn't be dragged down. I did a virus scan with HouseCall and it detected and removed 2 viruses. After that, i restarted my computer, but the taskbar was still gone. I've spent the past few days reading as many threads as i could about people with similar problems, and this one is way beyond me. Ctrl+Esc makes my start menu come up but the taskbar remains gone; I've defragged, ran spybot, a registry cleaner, probably really screwed up some stuff by trying manual adjustments that seemed to have helped other people (!!) but nothing seems to change.
Any suggestions? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[CCT]

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

 

[baiani]

Taskbar popped up at the bottom of my monitor then disappeared again right away...

Also, did i mention that i have object dock and that isn't showing up either?

 

[tipstir]

Hello!

This is my first time posting in a forum for help so please bear with me! Earlier this week my computer got infected with a trojan. I realized this as soon as I turned on my computer and my taskbar disappeared and couldn't be dragged down. I did a virus scan with HouseCall and it detected and removed 2 viruses. After that, i restarted my computer, but the taskbar was still gone. I've spent the past few days reading as many threads as i could about people with similar problems, and this one is way beyond me. Ctrl+Esc makes my start menu come up but the taskbar remains gone; I've defragged, ran spybot, a registry cleaner, probably really screwed up some stuff by trying manual adjustments that seemed to have helped other people (!!) but nothing seems to change.
Any suggestions? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!

I had this a happen myself I was luckly to recover from prior backup. The only reason why I had to backup as the problem was still present in safe mode. So do you see this problem in safe mode? If not then you can delete the profile that you use which is giving you the problem. Next windows will rebuild a new profile using the same name you deleted. This will only work if you can get into safe mode and the task bar doesn't take exit 86 on you?

The task fix might or might not work, as if you can't do anything with a blinking task bar.

 

[Blind Dragon]

Please post a hijackthis log for review as many malware programs will disable task manager, fixing the symptom isn't always best. Sometimes when you fix the infection it will start working again, sometimes we still have to change a few settings in the registry back to defaults - did you lose anything else such as control panel or safe boot option. Often those will also be disabled by malware. Either way get us a log to review

Highjackthis Instructions

• Make sure you have the LATEST version of HJT (currently v2.0.0.2) it can be downloaded from HERE
• Run the HijackThis Installer and it will automatically place HJT in C:\Program Files\TrendMicro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe. Please don't change the directory.
• After installing, the program launches automatically, select Scan now and save a log
• After the scan is complete please attach your log onto the forums using the paper clip icon above your reply.

 

[baiani]

Thanks guys,
it appears as though the taskbar is there when i'm in safe mode...!
Anyway, for some reason this forum thinks that i'm posting an image or a link and won't let me paste the hijack this log until i have at least 5 messages or something strange (and i only have 2)... so... should the log be done in safe mode or regular mode?

 

[Blind Dragon]

After you click post reply - click the paperclip and attach the log

 

[baiani]

Thanks, now i see it!

 

[tipstir]

Thanks guys,
it appears as though the taskbar is there when i'm in safe mode...!
Anyway, for some reason this forum thinks that i'm posting an image or a link and won't let me paste the hijack this log until i have at least 5 messages or something strange (and i only have 2)... so... should the log be done in safe mode or regular mode?

That's good if the taskbar is present in safemode and give it 30 mins to 60 mins. If it stays then you can do what I had mention to backup your profile and delete it off the c:\document and settings\user name (this would be you)

Reboot the system and let windows rebuild the profile from the original state. Taskbar should be working again. Now if that doesn't do that then follow the other sugguestion here.

Quick turn around with the profile shot though...

 

[Blind Dragon]

I think I know why

Please download Deckard's System Scanner (DSS) and save it to your Desktop.

• Close all other windows before proceeding.
• Double-click on dss.exe and follow the prompts.
• When it has finished, dss will open two Notepads main.txt and extra.txt -- attach main.txt and extra.txt in your next reply.

 

[baiani]

That's good if the taskbar is present in safemode and give it 30 mins to 60 mins. If it stays then you can do what I had mention to backup your profile and delete it off the c:\document and settings\user name (this would be you)

Reboot the system and let windows rebuild the profile from the original state. Taskbar should be working again. Now if that doesn't do that then follow the other sugguestion here.

Quick turn around with the profile shot though...

so... i did just that and my taskbar's back but even thought i chose the option to "keep files" (it told me it would put all the files in my documents in a new folder on the new user's desktop) i seem to have lost everything. including the whole "my documents" folder. (its non-existant...??) is there some way i can recover lost data now?

 

[Blind Dragon]

You should have followed by advice

more than likely it would have been one simple registry setting

User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]

Value Name: DisableTaskMgr
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable Task Manager)

-----------------------

Just in case somebody hits this on google in the future - you may want to check the above setting before deleting a profile

 

[baiani]

You should have followed by advice

more than likely it would have been one simple registry setting

User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]

System Key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]

Value Name: DisableTaskMgr
Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)
Value Data: (0 = default, 1 = disable Task Manager)

-----------------------

Just in case somebody hits this on google in the future - you may want to check the above setting before deleting a profile

right... since i know what this means... thanks anyway.

 

[Blind Dragon]

good luck finding your documents