So... I know I don't blog much any more, but I am posting this in hopes of helping out another Vista user.
The other day I came across a black screen on my computer, with just a white cursor. No desktop, no icons, no taskbar and no start menu. I was able to start a few programs by using CTRL+ALT+DEL and pull up the task manager and use the Run command.
All of the other "fixes" that I found online didn't work, as the only things that would work in this Reduced Functionality Mode (more on this later) was firefox and explorer. I could not use programs, trying to run any program as an administer just had no effect, I clicked and nothing.
So none of the fixes saying to run cmd.exe or msconfig or regedit etc just wouldn't run.
Vista has a "feature" that if it suspects that your copy of windows is not genuine, or if there were major hardware changes or something of the like, it goes into this "Reduced Functionality Mode" also known as the black screen of death.
Ok, here is what I did to fix it. I restarted, and during boot up, I pressed an F key...either F8 or F10, I can't remember. And I got the boot menu and then booted in "SAFE MODE WITH NETWORK CONNECTIONS"
I went to Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Turn User Account on or off
Then I unchecked the box for User Account Control. After this, I rebooted. Aha! I think I solved the problem. However, even though all the menus and icons and desktop are back, some windows programs are running slowly, and some not running at all...can't print, can't transfer photos from my camera.
So, I uninstalled the program that I figured started this whole thing, because the last thing I saw before we went into Reduced functionality mode was an update for my antivirus.
So I uninstalled the antivirus, and Voila! We are back to normal.
Still debating whether to reinstall it or not...
