I'm going to look at my parent's Dimension 4600 today. Based on phone
conversations, the symptoms are upon startup the screen will pull up
the wallpaper but none of the desktop icons appear. The computer is
frozen. (Not sure if the mouse pointer appears or not, I presume no.)
I've asked them if there is any beeping upon startup and they say no.

My first idea is to boot in safe mode and do a spyware and virus scan.
If that doesn't work I will attempt a restore system to a date where
the computer was working. If that doesn't do it, assuming I can get
onto the internet, I'll try surfing the net for solutions. If I can't
get on the net I could be stuck.

Any ideas?