No Start Menu or Icons on Desktop

[redhead824]

My mother uses a Dell computer with Windows XP Home  Edition as the operating system.  When she turns on the computer, she gets a background picture, but she doesn't get the "Start" button, or any of the icons on her desktop. 

Before this happened, I did a system restore because her computer kept shutting down after about 20 minutes each time I logged on.

Any ideas?

[neljan]

Try booting in safe mode (with network)

Guide:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm

Do you have HijackThis installed?

[FilluX]

Might be that explorer.exe is not loaded, press ctrl+alt+del and applications and new task and type in explorer.

Hope this helps.