what has happened?

Firetastic

I fired up computer this morning and it was fine. I came back to find it had restarted itself after updates and it now looks like windows 95. A message came up saying it couldn't connect to a windows service.

It is Windows Vista Home Basic. Would a restart sort the problem?

Thank you very much.

NiftyDigits

Brand name and model number?

Firetastic

It's in Windows Classic Mode. It's a Dell Inspiron 531.

Weird_Nev

it sounds very much like it has shutdown and restarted itself in safe mode - very basic VGA drivers and no networking support etc.

Try a restart and see if it offers you any choice. Try "start windows normally" if it's an option.

There was a recent update pack which may have monkeyed around with your settings somewhat.

If in doubt, turn it off and on again! Then see if the problem persists. You may have to roll it back to the last stable version if it's not happy with the updates.

Firetastic

I've just restarted and it has gone back to normal. Phew.. Got a bit panicky there. Must have been those updates.

Weird_Nev

Good stuff.

Lifeforms

The age old techie question of Have you turned it off and on again?