XP missing desktop icons and taskbar

[buksida]

Just started happening today, XP SP2 boots up but only shows the desktop wallpaper, no icons, no taskbar. CAD brings up task manager but it starts running slow and blocky whe you try and do anything. Safe mode brings all up as usual.

Spent a couple of hours Googling and trying various things before posting here, some are listed below, none of them have worked:

Restored explorer in the registry using: "Shell"="explorer.exe" from shellfix.reg tool.

Restored explorer.exe file from another comp.

Tried LKGC and System Restore.

Checked 'run' in registry and msconfig startup values for nasties.

Scanned for F-Nimda using fix tool from F-Secure.

Ran ComboFix which crashed so currently running it in safe mode.

Next course of action is to pull the hard disk out and scan it in another machine as I think this is viral. System is using Avast fully updated, A-squared and Spybot all updated with Kerio Personal Firewall.

Hoping someone here has come across this before and has another quick fix before I pull the thing apart!