Hello...i'm having a frustrating computer problem...i am using windows 7 professional which worked very well until lately...here's the problem..when i start the computer,everything seems ok...the desktop appears as does the taskbar..the arrow or cursor also appears...now when i place the arrow on the taskbar it turns into the " busy " signal which is the small rotating circle or donut as i call it...if i click the arrow on any desktop icon nothing opens and that's as far as i get and the cursor when placed anywhere on the taskbar changes to that rotating circle again...seems to me that the computer is stuck ....is anyone familiar with this problem...thanks a bunch for any help...Gary.
Since you are running Windows 7 I'm guessing the computer is several years old, and because of the age I'll guess that the hard drive is failing.
Does it ever get to a point where you can run anything? If it does, try to install Defraggler(defraggler.com) and look at the tab labelled Health. Post some info from the Health tab here, particularly any values that are VERY high, like millions or more.
Behind every good computer... is a jumble of wires 'n stuff.
I've got Win 7 Home Premium on an old laptop. I presume that Pro will work the same way - Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and you should be presented with a screen that includes a clickable link to start Task Manager. If that allows Task Manager to open, check for any AV/anti-malware or other programs that could be slowing everything down by doing bootup AV scan(s) (or updating, defragging, etc.) Also, check for anything running that you don't recognize.
Or, just leave your computer on all day to see if anything completes and returns control to you.
It's time to remove the hard drive and put it in another computer or convert it to USB to recover any important data you may have. If you are backed up save yourself a lot of headaches and re-install the Operating system and check it out thoroughly for proper operation before reinstalling programs and transferring data. That will eliminate the malware possibility. If the hard drive is failing it will show itself at that time. You can mess with a computer like yours for a long time and waste a ton of time or find out quickly if there are any critical failures. Hard drives are very cheap these days. It doesn't take much to find out what's going on. If yours is going bad you might have difficulty recovering the data right away and that will point to hard drive failure. If a new OS on a new drive or known good drive works nicely than you have saved a lot of time. I used to like Windows 7 64 bit but 10 is light years ahead and can easily be made to operate just like 7 with a start menu program. Good luck!