I was in the process of shutting down my computer when it froze up. I was in the task manager and was ending processes such as internet explorer and sprint smartview. Once I exited from the task manager my entire desktop was deleted. The toolbar and start menu is gone as well. I can not right click on the desktop to see if its hidden. The windows key doesn't work either. I have ran a new task in task manager and I am able to browse all the files on my computer including what was on the desktop, but the recycle bin is gone. Help

Shut off your computer and turn it back on.

Oh... this can usually be done by holding the power button down.

I believe what you did was end the explorer.exe process.

Explorer.exe must not be confused with iexplorer.

explorer.exe provides your GUI and when you end it your desktop, start bar, task bars etc... all go away.
iexplorer is internet explorer windows currently open

If you do this again and your dekstop disappears, you can restart the process by going into task manager > file > new task > type explorer.exe
Everything should reappear!

When a PC freezes the best option is to just do a restart (by holding the power button) playing with the processes should be left to those who are aware of each process and the consequences of ending certain ones! Most likely no harm was done by ending the explorer.exe process but for future reference. Restarting is always a first step (in my opinion)

Hope this helps!

P.S. If you want to confirm what I said go into task manager and end the explorer.exe process and tell me if it's what happened! Simply restart the service (instructions above) and all is good!

Thanks ITstudent2006. Occasionally something I'm streaming continues to run in the background after I close the window and the only way to stop it is end the process. This time I deleted the explorer file rather than iexplorer.exe file and the desktop vanished. I've done this once before and had to restart. Your solution was quick and easy and solved w/o a restart. Thanks again!

Wow thanks guys I had panic after ending process for explorer.exe and my desktop vanished but I did exactly what I have been told above and I got back but one question I stopped my drop box applicaction do I have to do the same to get it back

You can start any process using the above steps so long as it's a process that your PC has...