I'm experiencing the same problem and I can't figure out what to do either. Did you ever figure it out?

I have it to oh joy this is NOT its making me so mad I could throw my laptop across the room UGH

The problem does not seem to be a virus. This has been happening after an update of Windows XP is being automatically installed. I have not seen a solution yet, except to reinstall Windows and turn off automatic updates (don't bother trying to restore windows because it does not work). I have tried to use antivirus software on this problem, but it will not run long enough to scan the whole computer.

I had the exact same problem...flashing icons, brief starting of programs then they disappear, no taskbar, total chaos. I installed superantispyware and it found vundo right off the bat. Prior to installing SuperAntiSpyware I ran Norton, Trojan Hunter, Cyber Defender, and several other spyware and antivirus programs. Super is the only program that actually found Vundo. I was about to take the laptop into BestBuy to have it worked on but luckily I solved the problem with this program. Thanks to the person who suggested this.

Ok i know this!! i know there are a lot of answers people come up with due to different settings on their pc ..
most common thing is that ur anti spy ware has deleted ur idle list from ur system these is a command that tells ur system where to display ur icons on ur pc what u want to do first is restore ur pc to a restore point where ur pc was working fine . then when u do this remove ur existing anti spy ware and download a proper anti virus which u have heard of . the safe ones are on download.com a good anti virus for instance is advance system care now when u download (make sure u get the pro version) this . scan ur pc remove Trojans and this time when the program askes u to check the file u want to remove make sure idlelist is not one of them.

I too am not given to trusting or posting to these forums, but I've got to echo what I've read others say.....THANK YOU!!!! SUPERANTISPYWARE WORKED!!! I too had all the desktop icons flashing on and off and nothing I was trying on my own was working to try and resolve it. After reading the posts in this thread and seeing that many others were experiencing the same thing I was, while working in between having the icons and taskbar available and not having them, I downloaded SUPERANTISPYWARE, ran it and now my PC is back and stable. THANK YOU all who posted to theis thread and THANK YOU SUPERANTISPYWARE!!! Gives me faith that some folks out there really do give a hoot and care about others. THANKS again!!

I am trying to install the superantispyware free. So should I try to do full scan? Am having the same issue with desktop icons flashing on and off and cannot run any programs. It is so frustrating....

I installed superantispyware and tried. But it is still flashing. Looks like my explorer.exe is corrupted. Any idea how to fix this?

Our laptop is doing the same thing.. start bar and icons flash alternately. system restore was disabled. we downloaded superantispyware, but then it wouldn't let us open it. then we attached it to mail from other computer, and sent it.. opened it on laptop in yahoo and ran the attachment. this was the only way we could open it... it supposedly detected and removed several trojans, but when rebooted we still had the problem.

Try to run one more time. Also try to run malwarebytes. For some that removed it as well. Well for me none of these worked. SO I had to use Windows CD install and use the repair version.