That's the start bar alright.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 5/7/12 9:43 AM

In Reply to: Disappearing System Tray by Sakhar

It's a known issue and has been with us for many years. The OS didn't crash but the start bar which is part of the system appears to have crashed.

Try the repair tool but given so little detail and how most would not look into HIJACKTHIS to find out all that is running I'd start learning that tool.

Again, this sounds like the old but but as a test, create a new user and test there.

Microsoft has made it very clear they don't offer any support when the other user account works. As witness and to vet my answer read this one -> http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/fix-a-corrupted-user-profile?SignedIn=1

You may find it amazing that their fix is to abandon the old account.
Bob