Once my system boots up. The hourglass appears whenever I move it to the system tray. I can access any folders and programs on my desktop without a problem. But cannot click on the start button or click on any icon on the system tray due to the hourglass. (seems as if something is still trying to load) I cannot acces the internet or Email ( which I cannot help but think is related to the hourglass issue) I have a cablemodem and am running winXP.
Thanks for any help

Just a question, and I'm not trying to be a smartass, but how did you access this webpage if you can't access the internet like you said. Also, press ctl-alt-del and go to processes and list what is running in the background and tell me what is running on the task bar on the bottom right.

I am having the same problem, every time I go to put my mouse over the startm menu it turns into an hour glass. (I'm typing on another computer right now) When I check the Windows Task Manager these are the programs that are running in the background: Explorer.exe; Svchost.exe (3x under user names: Local Service, Network Service, and System); Spools.exe; Inetinfo.exe; Lsass.exe; Services.exe; Winlogon.exe; Csrss.exe; Smss.exe; System; and System Idle Process. On the taskbar, only the time shows up which doesn't change. I can end the explorer process and start a new task of explorer via the task manager, and I can click on the start button to get the menu up, but it only works for 2 seconds and then freezes up, and I can't do much else via the taskbar after that. (If this is confusing please let me know.

The hourglass over taskbar problem is XP is usually the result of the SSDP Discovery Service. This service searches for universal plug and play devices on the network. In the task manager processes list, the SSDP service shows as svchost.exe. To eliminate the problem, disable the SSDP service using the administrative tools of control panel. If you can't get to control panel, right click the my computer icon on your desktop and select manage. From there select services and applications and services.

The SSDP service is probably looping because TCP/IP is corrupted. That's why you can't access the internet or email. See document 817571 in the Microsoft knowledge base for instructions on fixing TCP/IP. It is actually quite simple to fix. You just have to delete the winsock sections of the registry and re-install the TCP/IP protocol. The Microsoft instructions are pretty good.

Good Luck.

You may also enter safe mode with networking. This mode will allow you to enter safe mode and still be able to connect to the internet to help with any potential troubleshooting that you may need to do. Safe Mode should also allow you to access any of your files and folders as well as control panel and the System Configuration Utility, should you need to edit something in your Startup folder.

I found out the culprit was System Guard which is part of Iolo System Mechanic... by shutting System Guard for a minute then starting it again hour glass is gone.. seem to happen every time I reboot

I had a corded mouse that went to an hourglass nearly every time I clicked on something. I can do stuff, but, very frustrating because I have to wait for the hourglass to disappear before proceeding. I disconnected it and put my Logitech cordless mouse on.. same problem. Any ideas? Thanks!