[Techtalk] Ubuntu menu falling apart

[Anne Wainwright]

Hi, all,

Woke up the office accounting box the other morning to a severely
depleted row of icons on the top panel and a ditto menu system. Even
the System / Preferences with the 'Main Menu' option has gone awol.

What is the basic route to repair this? Where should I start to look?

Oddly if I open a Guest Session, everything is there.

Thanks in advance.

Anne