Task Manager Disabled....

[Lt. James Cater 62]

I usually can fix things that have screwed up on my comp but this one is killing me.

 

I caught a pretty large and nasty infection yesterday and after all was said and done, i was back to semi normal. One annoying thing is that my Task Manager apparently was disabled by the Administrator and i have no clue how to restore it's previous settings.

 

Can anyone clue me in?

[+Erik 1,753]

Have you tried restoring back to a time your computer was good? Since it was just yesterday I'd think that might be an option.

[+russouk2004 6,958]

A trojan does that...u may have one still on ur pc

Edited August 10, 2008 by russouk2004

[Lt. James Cater 62]

Thanks for the tip.

 

I remember once restoring my comp more or less by chance while i was fixing another problem. Guess i'll do it again

 

To deal with the infection meant having to contac MS and downloading one of their programs. It worked like a charm, even if the Manager is out and my background is an unchangingly black wall.

just in case, i now scan about every 2-3 hours.

[Lt. James Cater 62]

I really hate to be a bother here but...

 

For the life of me i just can't remember exactly where the instructions were for deleting a restore point. Aparently the infection wiped it out and the new restore point is no good since it's only a few hours ago. I created another for before everything went to hell but the restore apparently only chose the most recent one.

 

Advice anyone?

[JediMaster 451]

I assume you're talking WinXP here.

Go to Help and Support Center, choose "undo changes with system restore", and you should see an option in there that shows you a calendar with the ability to cycle back and look for previous points. Each day that has one will be in bold.

[Lt. James Cater 62]

Thanks for the tip but i solved it just before you posted.

 

The more i looked, the worse things were. It was to the point that my firewall was overidden and i was under constant attack by viruses. To solve that i looked around and downloaded another firewall program to replace the crippled MS one and run anti-virus and spybot S and D scans every so often.

 

The last thing i need to fix now is getting my background on the monitor back.

 

Thanks to all for tthe advice!

 

 

PS- Yes, it is WINXP

[Lt. James Cater 62]

Just one last thing....

 

As an insult to injury i found out yesterday that sometime, somehow my audio drivers vanished. I looked them up for downloading and virtually all links led to Driver Detective. nice program and all, but i'm a bit tired of spending money for this problem. Thinking long term i figure on picking up an external HD, transfering over some important stuff of mine, and then using the system recovery CD to nuke everything and start anew.

[+Erik 1,753]

Generally I don't offer advice because of the "what could happens" when I do. Keeping that in mind here's what I might consider or research at microsoft's support site.

 

Windows has a built in system file check. Basically what it will do is verify that the files on the hard drive are the same as on your OS disc. To use this feature you'll need your original Windows disc and to be able to boot the machine and open a command window.

 

You can also burn a warm copy of Windows over your current install just by inserting the Windows CD and installing windows.

 

I wouldn't recommend using the Repair Command Window unless you are absolutely certain of what you're doing or have exacting instructions.

 

Like I said research "re-installing or repairing a corrupt windows installation" at microsoft's support site.

 

Keep in mind that both of the above options I mentioned will revert your OS files to a factory state but it will NOT fix a malicious or corrupt registry in most cases. The only way to be certain your OS and machine are untainted is to write zeros to the drive or full format your HDD and reinstall your OS.

 

The beauty of the restore feature is that it maintains a copy of your registry so should you need to revert it's there. The bad thing is that most people who write malware know that if you turn off the restore feature all those check points become unselectable when restore is turned back on. Most times they are still there and can be used which would solve your problem completely. The problem is that the instructions to reclaim them using the repair command window can cause problems for the novice or faint of heart. Microsoft does publish a how-to page about recovering check points that aren't visible in the restore GUI. You might also search for that support option if you fear your registry is corrupt. The good news is that if you successfully enable the old check points you can restore to a pre-problem date and all will be good as new.

 

Why microsoft doesn't add some security to turning this feature off I have no idea, but it would fix a lot of problems for people.

 

Let us know how you did.

 

Erik

[ironroad 218]

Task manager not back even after all the registry edits, deletion from window's system 32, and all the scans. There is still a program out there that has taken and highjacked your browser and windows. Boting in safe mode and doing several adware/spayware/viral scans is the only way to get it.

 

Best advice, update with the latest MS service pack and security updates is a sure fire way to keep it from coming back.

 

*Run a virus scan in safe mode

 

*Run an adware/spyware scan in safe mode

 

*Do a registry clean in safe mode

 

 

You are going to have to run several spyware/adware programs back to back (in addition to a virus scan.)

 

Start here

 

http://housecall.trendmicro.com (one of the best free/online adware/virus scans)

 

Then do a google search for "spybot search and destroy"

 

Finally download "Lavasoft ad-ware"

 

These should be used to supplement your base firewall and virus scan program.

 

You can run these in regular mode, but in some cases the scaning and deletion of System 32 files (while booted in regular windows) may cause your computer to freeze, crash, or the scanning program to lock up.

 

In addition most of these programs can not delete spyware/viruses that are running in the background. Since task manager is not working, you will have to go into ms confing to do a customized/selective windows start up in order to stop windows from automatically starting them. Anything that is not a window's function, stop it.

 

 

Finally here is some stuff I dug up that may help, it involves registry edits

 

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Taskmanager_error.htm

 

http://www.pchell.com/support/taskmanagerdisabled.shtml

[Lt. James Cater 62]

I've had my Task Manager back for sometime.

 

Getting the audio drivers has been a real hassle since all the links seem to lead to pay sites. Plus there are a couple of small things that just don't feel the same. So basically my plan is to transfer certain files (music, pics, games, etc) to an external HD and then use the system recovery disc to start anew. I also am thinking of using a cleaner program just to make sure that nothong is left on the hard drive before i use the system recovery.

 

Naturally, i'm going to ask around before i attempt this. Anyways, Spybot i've been using for a while. I downloaded Zone Alarm to replace the stock firewall and am using Rising antivirus at the moment. In a few days i'm going shopping for some other software i'm going to be using for some pastimes of mine so i figure i'd look around at what's out there and ask a lot of questions. I live about 40 miles from the nearest store so i just cant hop out the door and go window shopping.

 

Thanks to all for the assist. Next year i'm planning on a new comp and so at least this whole episode has been something of a learning experience.