Active Desktop Recovery

Question

This one's new to me.

I downloaded and installed the VB.Net version 3.5 updates, and got some complaints about my printer drivers, which I ignored. My system auto-rebooted without asking, and then came up with am "Active Desktop Recovery" background screen (everything still works normally). So when I tried to "restore my active desktop" ( a button on the background screen) it claims a script error.

Okay, fine, I wasn't using the active desktop anyhow, so I decided to turn it off. Go to the Display Properties window, and WTF! The Desktop tab is gone!

Anybody know the fix for this, or even a workaround??

Answer 1

Sounds like malware, perhaps trying to hide whatever changes it made to your desktop and prevent you from undoing them. Give your favourite anti-malware a go.

Afterwards, to restore the tab and fix the recover button thingie there's a few MSKBs: 929200 and 929200.

Answer 2

Set the decimal value to 0 under the value DeskHtmlVersion in key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\SafeMode\Components.