Vista - Unresponsive blue screen after startup - can't get to desktop - please help!

For the past few days my desktop computer has been giving me constant
"such and such file is corrupted" pop-ups on completely random files,
such as my AOL Instant Messenger plugins, constantly prompting me to
run the Chk Disk application. I eventually ran it, and after it'd
finished I did some work on the PC and then turned it off.

When I next went to turn my computer on, I'm given a black screen with
two options - Run Windows Normally, or try and repair the errors that
prevented it from starting up properly. I think this was caused by me
switching the computer off at the plug instead of going through the
Start Shut Down process.

No matter which option I choose, the computer loads up and I get a
"Windows is loading files..." notification, and then I see a dark blue
screen with nothing but my mouse cursor (which I can move around), and
that's it. No keyboard keys do anything. I've left it on this screen
for hours just in case it was doing something, but absolutely nothing
happens, I can just turn the PC off.

I've tried running in Safe Mode, no matter which option I choose I just
get this blue screen and can't find how I can get to the desktop.

I have some very important files on there that I need to access as soon
as possible so if someone could suggest a solution, it would be greatly
appreciated - all I want to do is get to the desktop so I can transfer
them over to my external hard-drive ASAP.

I'm not particularly tech-minded so please try to dim down anything
overly technical so I can understand and follow the instructions.

Thanks,
verdantabyss




--
verdantabyss