No desktop icons, task bar, network connection, all programs not responding

[DonovanJ]

When I log into my user, the screen shows just the blank background... No icons or task bar. Nothing. I have tried explorer.exe but that doesn't help and now no Internet connection related stuff works either. And NOW task manager and any programs i DO manage to open stop responding and cannot be ended because task manager is the thing not responding... The computer is incredibly slow taking 10+ minutes to do almost anything. I have no idea what to to as I have no knowledge of this subject. Any help for any of these problems would be greatly appreciated

[Allan]

1) What is new or different since the last time everything worked properly (ie, new hw, new sw, virus, error, etc)?
2) Boot to safe mode and run full scans with BOTH your anti virus app and with MalwareBytes

[SuperDave]

Please download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware from here.
Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application.

• It should update automatically if the computer is connected to the internet.
• Click on Threat Scan and click on Scan Now.
  
• The scan may take some time to finish,so please be patient.
• When the scan is complete make sure all the infections have "quarantine" selected in the Action box.
  
• Click on "Apply actions" You may be asked to Restart your computer to completely remove the infections.
  
• When disinfection is completed you can click on "Copy to Clipboard".
  
• Paste the log in you next reply (CTRL+ V)

[Vakarian]

If your computer is so slow to start then there's a chance that when you see no icons and no desktop, it's because it's still loading. If it takes it 10 minutes to even run Windows then it may take just as much to run your desktop. What caused the change? Did you installed, downloaded something new? Did you try starting Windows with last known working configuration?