Cannot Open Task Manager

Question

You'll have to forgive me if you guys have already answered this question before. I did a search but all of the results were 5 and 6 years old or did not answer the question.

When I press CTRL+ALT+DEL, it does not open up task manager. A little black (MS-DOS looking box) opens and closes really quick.

When I right click on the taskbar and and click on task manager the same black box pops up.

When I go to Run and put in tskmgr.exe, same thing...

I found this link in the forums: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Taskmanager_error.htm

But none of that worked either.

When I go into my Registry myself, I do not even have "Policies" under Windows/CurrentVersion or Windows NT/CurrentVersion.

Can anyone help?

Thank you.

BELL BOY · Answer

Honey2006 Reference ' A little black (MS-DOS looking box) opens' sounds like it’s the command prompt that’s opening instead of the task manager, very strange? A long shot, (unless someone else can help) but it could be W32.Klez worm virus infection related, click here for list of likely symptoms.

RoHe · Answer

After you're sure the system is free of viruses and malware, run a windows system file check:
click start>run
type in: sfc /scannow
(space between sfc and /)
click ok
insert XP CD if sfc requests it. Reboot when it's done.

Ron

Honey2006 · Answer

Well my computer is running slow. That's the only other symptom of that virus that I have other than Task Manager not opening.

Also, the little black box sometimes says something about insufficient memory too. And this is when nothing is running.

BELL BOY · Answer

Honey2006

Did you try the method mentioned in above MS KB link (under MORE INFORMATION), to determine if the W32.Klez worm virus is running on your computer? Looks like a quick check method, but not sure how reliable it is?

Honey2006 · Answer

I will run another virus scan on my computer and then try that sfc scan thing. Thanks for the input so far. I will keep y'all posted.

Windows General

Cannot Open Task Manager

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