Cannot open Task Manager

[jocaan2]

When I select Cntrl-Alt+Delete I get a message "Task Manager has been disabled by your Administrator." Well, I am the one and only Administrator on this home computer of mine and I never disabled Task Manager. How can I add this program back on?
Frank C.

 

[PC eye]

This is either due to the group policy settings on your account or some change in the system registry. Fortunately Microsoft was kind enough to provide instructions for seeing this corrected at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555480

And by the way Welcome to CF http://www.computerforum.com/70672-official-welcome-thread.html Please make to review the http://www.computerforum.com/52038-forum-rules.html

 

[jocaan2]

I went to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555480. The first section of the instructions I completed. The second section does not apply to Windows XP. The third section, b. Navigate to the following registry keys and verify that following setting set to default, show out of the four steps:
Step 1. instead of dword:00000000 , I have dword:0X00000001 (1).
Step 2. My outline on left pane ends at Group Policy. By that I mean there is no Objects\Local User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\etc... in the left pane.
Step 3. There is no "DisableTaskManager=dword:00000000 in the right pane after the rest of the steps are done.
Step 4. There is no "Disable CAD=dword:00000000 in the right pane after the rest of the steps are done.
Thanks, Frank C.

 

[PC eye]

Often you will find the references to 2000 as well as XP since that was the previous NT cored version of Windows. This was a problem that came up in 2K as well as what you saw there. While you not find all of the same registry values match what is seen in XP there are some still seem to remain. These two versions of Windows were only several months apart compared to the big gap seen now with Vista's release. Yet surprisingly the regedit still works!

 

[Byteman]

I've dealt with some malware that will do this... run the scans in buzz's thread and see if that helps.

 

[heyman421]

i got the same virus last week, actually

i just reformatted my computer, i didn't feel like dealing with it

it was making the system REALLY unstable.

 

[PC eye]

I've dealt with some malware that will do this... run the scans in buzz's thread and see if that helps.

That thread is a little outdated at this point. Ewido was a well known "bug blaster" until Grisoft bought them out. The new updated version now goes under AVG Anti-Spyware Remover found on the same page as the free AVG 7.5 antivirus tool at http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/lng/us/tpl/v5#avg-anti-spyware-free

Grisoft also has some more specialized removal tools found at http://www.grisoft.com/doc/112/lng/us/tpl/tpl01 These along with a freeware that has proven itself better then AdAware known as the Spyware Terminator will clean just about anything off a system. http://www.spywareterminator.com/

 

[Buzz1927]

That thread is a little outdated at this point[/URL]

PC eye, if you wish to talk about the sticky, please do it via PM, I'll gladly explain the reasons for it.

 

[Byteman]

I ran into this again last week, and Spybot will pick up the disabled reg setting and fix it for you on a normal scan (be sure you update spybot before scanning.

PC eye, I clean and deal with more systems on a weekly basis (hands on), than most you'll run into on the net. I don't post often, but when I do it's usually on the mark. On the lighter side... I'll agree that anything is better then Adaware, I still use Ewido 4 (as long as AVG still will support and update it... which they do). And I like AVG for virus protection out of the available freewares.

 

[StrangleHold]

Spyware Terminator will clean just about anything off a system. http://www.spywareterminator.com/

I thought Spyware Terminator was owned by a company called Crawler that has adaware problems of there own!

 

[leSHok]

haha nortan did that on my one cpu and i turned it off but on the next logon it disabled task manager again! i hate nortan but my dad loves it.