so I start my computer and GET to my desktop, have a background but no icons no start menu and i can't right click. i can get to the task manager and open programs from there. i searched online and read to ATTEMPT a system restore tried that will not work. i searched my system for explorer.exe and got an error message 'WINDOWS CANNOT FIND EXPLORER.EXE. MAKE SURE YOU TYPED THE NAME CORRECTLY, AND THEN TRY AGAIN...." i did spell it correctly. i have norton 360, malware bytes and spybot s&d. ran them got nothing. i cannot update them..got error MESSAGES for that too. also when i try to start computer in safe mode all i get is a BLACK screen with safe mode in all four corners.please help i don't know what to do and its driving me CRAZY! thanks in advance. Do you have an XP CD?What happens when you press the windows key?

When you press Ctrl+Del+Alt at the same time does it bring up anything?

Have you tried to see if it come up in Safe Mode (press the F8 key after you boot the system) the run the recover from there?