No start menu or desktop icons on PC screen?

This is due to an error on your explorer.exe file. Follow the following steps to restore your desktop:

1) When you boot up into Windows you get something that looks like this:


No icons or Start menu toolbar.

2) What you need to do is hold down CTRL + ALT + Delete on your keyboard to bring up the Task Manager, it looks like this:


3) Then click on New Task... as circled in red in the above picture.
4) The Create New Task window should appear.


5) All you have to do is type explorer.exe into the field next to Open and your dektop should be restored, icons and all.



NOTE: If you get a blank desktop every time you start up Windows then it normally is a problem with some third-party driver or process - either something from the Registry or maybe even the Windows Startup group. To check this, restart your PC in Safe Mode (as your PC is booting up, press and hold theF8 key). If Safe Mode loads correctly with your desktop as it should be then you have diagnosed the problem to be a driver issue. If you have System Restore enabled, use it to roll back to a time when your PC booted up correctly. If not then you will have to manually uninstall any software or device drivers that you added recently until you get to the stage before the problem.

There is a program called Driver Scanner that scans and checks to see if your PC is using the most recent and official drivers.

If all else fails you may need to perform a clean re-install of Windows.