Hey all,
The story is that I was 1) downloading something with my virus protection turned off and 2) trying to get rid of Google Toolbar in Firefox by playing in the registry. Probably both were very very bad ideas, and now I'm paying for it, because the desktop is totally blank---no icons, just the wallpaper, and the taskbar is missing, too.
Running Last Known Good Config doesn't solve the problem, and Safe Mode displays the task bar for about two seconds before it disappears again. No icons either way. I haven't tried System Restore, and I'm not entirely sure it's a virus, but it certainly doesn't hurt to be careful.
Am currently accessing all programs and internet through the Task Manager. It's a terrible pain. Everything seems to work, though. Running explorer.exe doesn't even make the task bar flash up---explorer.exe shows up on the processes list for a split second and then disappears.
Followed all the instructions on Howard's sticky and have included logs for HJT, Combofix, and AVG Anti-spyware (can't seem to figure out how to make HJT a .txt instead of a .log, but it seems to open the same way [sorry if this is a noobish thing to comment on or to do]). AVG rootkit scan said that there were no hidden files.
If it's not a virus, could someone talk me through how to fix things anyway?
A thousand thank-yous in advance. You guys are incredibly generous to contribute your time and effort this way!
The story is that I was 1) downloading something with my virus protection turned off and 2) trying to get rid of Google Toolbar in Firefox by playing in the registry. Probably both were very very bad ideas, and now I'm paying for it, because the desktop is totally blank---no icons, just the wallpaper, and the taskbar is missing, too.
Running Last Known Good Config doesn't solve the problem, and Safe Mode displays the task bar for about two seconds before it disappears again. No icons either way. I haven't tried System Restore, and I'm not entirely sure it's a virus, but it certainly doesn't hurt to be careful.
Am currently accessing all programs and internet through the Task Manager. It's a terrible pain. Everything seems to work, though. Running explorer.exe doesn't even make the task bar flash up---explorer.exe shows up on the processes list for a split second and then disappears.
Followed all the instructions on Howard's sticky and have included logs for HJT, Combofix, and AVG Anti-spyware (can't seem to figure out how to make HJT a .txt instead of a .log, but it seems to open the same way [sorry if this is a noobish thing to comment on or to do]). AVG rootkit scan said that there were no hidden files.
If it's not a virus, could someone talk me through how to fix things anyway?
A thousand thank-yous in advance. You guys are incredibly generous to contribute your time and effort this way!