Just today my pc started to act very oddly. I have not done anything unusal with the computer yesterday. These are the problems it has: -task manager occasionally gets disabled at startup -ZoneAlarm and Counterspy anti-spyware fails to start on startup (they are set to start when Windows starts) -the "Run" command and "Turn Off Computer" command are disabled from the start menu -everytime I run a disk check, Windows fails to start and shows that black screen with the option to start the computer with last known settings I have run Kaspersky Antivius 6.0, Trend Micro's online scan, Adaware SE Pro, Counterspy and Webroot Spy Sweeper to no avail. Whenever I set msconfig to start the programs which are supposed to start with Windows (i.e. ZoneAlarm Pro) it does not start the next restart, it basically ignores what I'm telling it to do. I have to run "REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f" almost every time to enable the task manager again. And I have to edit the Group Policy settings to make the "Run" and "Turn Off Computer" commands show up in the start menu. I do not have the Windows XP cd-rom for the reinstall at the moment. Besides the reinstall, which is imminent, how do I solve these problems or at least one of them. p4-3.0E ghz/800 mhz FSB 1M w/ HT ASUS P5GD1-VM 1.0 Gb of RAM, Win XP Pro SP2 40 Gb Seagate HDD XFX Geforce 6800 GS 256MB PCI-E x16 Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music

Have a look in Task Manager & see if anything is hogging your cpu cycles. Using the Windows Task Manager (XP) http://www.viewz.com/netscape/computingtips/computingtip158.shtml http://www.wown.info/j_helmig/wxptskmg.htm

TM, I may well be wrong, I'm somewhat paranoid, but what you describe sounds like the work of a nasty. Some disable the better known safeguards when they start as a matter of self-preservation. Suggest you scan in safe mode to see if you can find one. If that fails, it may be a Trojan. Be aware that a virus and a Trojan are similar, but not the same. Many times, an AV detects one it can't clean , other times, it gets missed entirely. If you need to clean one, A² can do the job and you can get it free @: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4281.html among other places. If it turns out that you need to use it, be sure to update prior to running. They just released a new update recently and it changes all the time. Things are in a constant state of flux. Dunno for sure. HTH. Ed in Texas.

Hi, I didn't find anything suspicious in the task manager. I booted in safe mode and did all the spyware, virus and trojan scans and came up with nothing. I even got TrojanHunter to scan but that didn't find anything. I appreciate the help though. p4-3.0E ghz/800 mhz FSB 1M w/ HT ASUS P5GD1-VM 1.0 Gb of RAM, Win XP Pro SP2 40 Gb Seagate HDD XFX Geforce 6800 GS 256MB PCI-E x16 Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music

Why does Task Manager, MSCONFIG, or REGEDIT disappear while opening? http://windowsxp.mvps.org/ToolsQuit.htm