I downloaded a theme for my Windows Vista desktop and tried installing it. Once I did that, I was about to restart my computer but there was no toolbar or icons on my desktop. So I rebooted my computer and the sign on screen came up as normal but when my desktop opened, it was just a pink blank screen with no toolbar or icons. The mouse shows up and can be moved but when I right click, nothing happens. I'm not very good with computers so I'm not sure if I installed the theme wrong since I've never done it before. Pleeeease help!

Have you tried Safe Mode? While rebooting your computer, immediately after it powers on, begin tapping the F8 key until you get a screen of options. If you see the "Starting Windows'' loading screen, it's too late and you'll need to reboot and press F8 again. Once you've entered Safe Mode, you can use System Restore (in your Start Menu under System Tools) to go back to a time before the issue happened. If this was helpful, please vote by clicking the green triangle. If it solves the issue, click Propose as Answer. Thanks!

On my computer is says press F12 but when I do that, it just takes me to a screen that has boot options like boot from CD-ROM, boot from hard disc, boot from Network. There's nothing that says safe mode. When I was trying to install the theme, i downloaded a "theme installer", I think that's what it's called. Anways, it had a section that said explorer.exe and browse button next to it. Well I clicked browse and put in what I thought should go there. Honestly I had no idea what I was doing. But after reading tons of other people with the same problem, I realize that I changed the explorer.exe so I need to find out how to get that back to the way it was.

Make sure that you press F8, not F12. The options you see at the very brief beginning are coming from the BIOS, but what you're trying to "grab the attention of" with your F8 pressing is the Windows bootloader, and it only does a very brief check to see if F8 is being pressed for about a half-second before the "starting..." screen appears. Sometimes you can just hold down F8 immediately after pressing the Power button to turn on the computer, rather than tapping, and just keep holding until it gives you the menu. If this was helpful, please vote by clicking the green triangle. If it solves the issue, click Propose as Answer. Thanks!

Ohhhh ok. Well I'll go try that real quick. Thanx.

You were totally right. Ok, the screen with all the safe mode options came up so what do I do now?

Once you've entered Safe Mode, you can use System Restore (in your Start Menu under System Tools) to go back to a time before the issue happened. It's really easy and fast. Once you open System Restore, you just choose a date when you know your computer was working, and it reverses all the system files and settings back to that date. It won't make you lose any of your personal files, emails, or pictures. If this was helpful, please vote by clicking the green triangle. If it solves the issue, click Propose as Answer. Thanks!

Ok, when I enter safe mode, windows comes up with a black screen and "safe mode" in all four corners of the screen. No start button or toolbar.

I see. Well that's certainly no good, but we can work around it. While you're at that screen, press Ctrl-Shift-Escape to open the Task Manager. Then go to the File menu and choose New Task. Type explorer.exe and hit enter. Hopefully it will give your Taskbar and Start menu, where you can get to the System Restore. If that doesn't make your Taskbar appear, go back to the Task Manager, once again choose File > New Task, and type this in: %systemroot%\system32\rstrui.exe This will manually start the System Restore program. If this was helpful, please vote by clicking the green triangle. If it solves the issue, click Propose as Answer. Thanks!

Ok, when I press ctrl+shift+esc nothing happens.

Well I figured it out. I entered windows in safe mode with commad prompt and entered sfc/scannow and it found corrupt files. It wasn't able to delete them all, but deleted enough for me to get to my desktop so I can run a full virus scan. Thank you sooooo much anyways because if not for you, I probably never would've gotten to the safe mode screen in the first place :)

No problem I'm glad you're doing well. If you don't have a good virus scanner (or you are sick of paying for updates), please do let me recommend the Microsoft Security Essentials. It's the home-user version of the same technology Microsoft sells to huge corporations as "Forefront Security", and this home version is totally free. It's lightweight, doesn't slow down your computer, and updates itself daily without bothering you. It's a quick download from http://microsoft.com/security_essentials. If this was helpful, please vote by clicking the green triangle. If it solves the issue, click Propose as Answer. Thanks!