The DESKTOP on our computer is split into two vertical sections.    The icons are on the right and on the left is an EXPLORER-LIKE view.

Can you help me get rid of the split screen?

Thank you very much.

Mark  CAPTAIN Vic.......  You've probably heard this before , but "a picture is worth a thousand words" ...... so how about posting a screen shot of your issue .
Is this something which simply occurred or was someone playing around and changed something ?    
Which operating system are we dealing with ?

dl65  
I am sorry, I should have given you more detailed information.

It is not my computer, it belongs to my children, which unfortunately is not at my residence.     I will get a screen shot to you A.S.A.P.

COMPUTER DETAILS:

DELL DIMENSION 2400
XP PRO SP2 OS
768 RAM
INTEL INTEGRATED GRAPHICS 82845

Thank you very much for your time.

Mark

A PIC IS FORTHCOMING.I have attached a picture of the desktop.

Thank you,

MarkIf you go to: Right-click desktop-->Properties-->Desktop tab-->Customize desktop button-->Web tab; what do you see in the list of web pages? Captain Vic .......  It almost sounds like someone has been doing some tweaking of XP ........  I am going to try and post a very small RAR file .......

[highlight]This application will correct the REGISTRY setting that causes the Common Tasks pane to appear on the Windows XP Desktop. [/highlight]

The correct value is:  file://%userappdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop.htt

And exists in:

HKCR\CLSID\{00021400-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\shellex\ExtShellFolderViews\{5984FFE0-28D4-11CF-AE66-08002B2E1262}


To use the XP_CommonTasks.zip file and save it to your hard drive Locate and DOUBLE-click the file you just saved and extract XP_CommonTasks.exe. Double click XP_CommonTasks.exe to run the utility. You will need to log off/log on or reboot for the change to TAKE effect.  There is no install/uninstall.  Simply delete the EXE file to REMOVE it.
I have not tested it but it should fix your issue.
It's not very big ....only 36 kb...... and I have checked it and it is virus free.

dl65  




When I right click the desktop and then click properties, the following screen appears:


I just had a chance to try the XP_CommonTasks utility.   It seemed to work perfectly.

Thank you so very much.

I would certainly like to make a donation for all of your help, however I don't see a link from here.

Thanks again,

Mark

BTW, How did you know about that utility?