Icons gone in Start Menu & cannot click on them

[pbungard]

This is an networked computer in my office. Our admin assistant said it worked fine yesterday, and today it has issues. We cannot select anything in the start menu. All icons are missing and when you try to click, the start menu goes away but the programs never start. It also removed the icons in the Quick Launch toolbar. She has said she hasn't installed anything and our various spyware programs show no spyware. We have run:

• Ad-aware 6
  Scan Spyware 3.8.0.4
  Spywareblaster 3.3
  Microsoft AntiSpyware (beta1)
  Spybot - Search & Destroy

All report the system is clean, as does the McAfee Virus Scan. We can still access all the programs if we go through Program Files, but we cannot create new icons. We have rebooted in safe mode and experience the same issues - none of the start menu items are clickable.

I have done a system restore multiple times; and the problem exists after every reboot.

System Stats:
Win XP Home SP2 (b 2600)
1.67 ghz AMD Athlon
128 kb primary
256 kb secondary
McAfee Security Center v5.0.0.0
McAfee Personal Firewall v6.0.0.14
McAfee On Access Scanner v6.0.0

[mgriffit]

check the registry and startup folders to see if anything is running that shouldnt be. Spybot has an Advanced Tool, Tools, System Startup utility that will allow you to see, disable or delete startup items.
If you need to find out exactly what is being run at startup, I suggest a freeware tool, HijackThis
If you use roaming profiles and/or redirect standard folders to LAN shares, make sure that these connections are reestablished at logon and that proper security permissions are still in effect.
Check that the Start menu items did not get moved,that they are still accesible and have proper security set.
Default user start menu is created by overlaying User menu on top of All Users menu.
check the %USERPROFILE% variable to determine your settings
%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\UserName\Start Menu\Programs
%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs
At a minimum the All Users Start menu needs to grant "Read and Execute", "List Folder Contents" and "Read" permissions. The user's start menu should be full control

good luck

[pbungard]

Well the problem seemed to have fixed itself a couple of days later. Now it has resufaced. Here is the log provided by Hijack This.
Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 10:27:03 AM, on 4/14/2005
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsrte.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7DEBUG\MDM.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\PERSON~1\MPFSERVICE.exe
c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsshld.exe
c:\progra~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsescn.exe
c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcshield.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mcagent.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\PERSON~1\MpfTray.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\AWS\WEATHE~1\Weather.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\PERSON~1\MpfAgent.exe
C:\Most Used Prgms\OUTLOOK.EXE
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\msagent\AgentSvr.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Temp\HijackThis.exe

O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: AcroIEToolbarHelper Class - {AE7CD045-E861-484f-8273-0445EE161910} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O3 - Toolbar: McAfee VirusScan - {BA52B914-B692-46c4-B683-905236F6F655} - c:\progra~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsshl.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Adobe PDF - {47833539-D0C5-4125-9FA8-0819E2EAAC93} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [VSOCheckTask] "c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcmnhdlr.exe" /checktask
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [VirusScan Online] "c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsshld.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCAgentExe] c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mcagent.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCUpdateExe] C:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\McUpdate.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MPFExe] C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\PERSON~1\MpfTray.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Weather] C:\PROGRA~1\AWS\WEATHE~1\Weather.exe 1
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert link target to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert link target to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selected links to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECaptureSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selected links to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppendSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selection to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selection to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_06\bin\npjpi142_06.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.2_06\bin\npjpi142_06.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra button: WeatherBug - {AF6CABAB-61F9-4f12-A198-B7D41EF1CB52} - C:\PROGRA~1\AWS\WEATHE~1\Weather.exe (HKCU)
O14 - IERESET.INF: START_PAGE_URL=http://Www.Wintergreensys.com
O20 - Winlogon Notify: PCANotify - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\PCANotify.dll
O23 - Service: Adobe LM Service - Adobe Systems - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe Systems Shared\Service\Adobelmsvc.exe
O23 - Service: pcAnywhere Host Service (awhost32) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Symantec\pcAnywhere\awhost32.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee.com McShield (McShield) - Unknown owner - c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcshield.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee SecurityCenter Update Manager (mcupdmgr.exe) - McAfee, Inc - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\Agent\mcupdmgr.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee.com VirusScan Online Realtime Engine (MCVSRte) - Networks Associates Technology, Inc - c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsrte.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Personal Firewall Service (MpfService) - McAfee Corporation - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\PERSON~1\MPFSERVICE.exe

[bbeard67]

http://www.grc.com/unpnp/unpnp.htm

Go to the link above and download the program unplug n pray
and disable upnp witht he program