Help needed-serious Windows XP problem!!

[JustAnotherVictim]

Hello everybody

I am hoping that someone here will be able to help me because the strangest thing has just happened.

I was halfway through installing Spybot Seek & Destroy when my computer crashed. After switching it off and restarting it I found the Windows desktop to consist of weird shapes and symbols instead of letters--instead of "Start" appearing in the bottom left I now have a question mark, a triangle, a tick, a cross and another triangle!! All the desktop icons remain however the writing below them is complete gobbledigook!! I am hoping that this is a simple problem that can be rectified, but at the moment I am having my doubts!:ugh: :{

ANY ideas/help/suggestions would be gratefully received-many thanks.

[bjkeates]

[Post deleted - misunderstood original poster. Proper reply to follow shortly]

Right, now I've deleted the wrong instructions I told you a minute ago... it sounds like something has become corrupted with your fonts somewhere. Try the following: right click on the desktop --> go to Properties --> Appearance and click on "Advanced". In there, have a look at all the various items in the drop-down menu and see what font accompanies them. It might have been changed to something obscure. If it has, you can change it back by choosing another font from that menu. If this doesn't work, it sounds like it might be something a bit more serious with the fonts or Windows itself... let us know.

[frostbite]

When starting up, try pressing F8 to get the startup options.

Choose Safe Mode and see if that brings up a more or less 'regular' display.

If so, close down normally and that might resolve the problem on the next startup.

[rmcfarlane]

FB,

Do you have the 'System Restore' function of XP enabled.
You can find this, Accessories > System Tools > System Restore, or System Tools in Control Panel.

I find this is able to roll back bad installs, FUBAR's etc...

-R

[DBTL]

If those artefacts are everywhere, often changing shape/colour, you've got a video hardware failure of some sort. A sudden apparent crashing would point to that direction. See if those persist after you've booted into the safe mode.

[nwaflygirl]

Try running your chkdsk. Go To Start, Select Run, Type chkdsk, then select enter.

Post back with the results.

Also, where exactly did you get your copt of Spybot from? If you googled it, and just went to the first site, it may not really be spybot. S and D is a very popular program and whoever pays google the most becomes the first search result. I believe the actual author's site comes up four or five down the list. Just a thought.

I would uninstall your copy. Here's Patrick Kolla's (the software author) website. http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
Re-install and see how it goes.