I've been trying to fix a problem thats boggled me a bit. My friend has a virus, AVG Free edition picked it up in his system restore and removed it. I remotely controlled his computer, only to find I couldn't access his Regedit/Msconfig/General Maintainance programs. They would open for about 5 seconds then close again. Also, System Restore could NOT be turned off. I would set it, click "Apply" and it wouldn't apply. I also couldn't click the "Ok" on the system restore properties. The System Restore would just stay open, the only way out by clicking "Cancel". As well as that, I couldn't gain ANY access to his System Restore Folder. "Access Denied". (The file attributes are valid for viewing this folder). After searching through his system folders, I found several invalid files (Virus's) the main one being Taskkill.exe. I deleted all of them. After deleting Taskill.exe, it would 2 seconds later reappear in the system32 directory. I ran Hijack-This which lead to a dead end. Nothing in it that would be linked with a virus. I ran pest control, again this found a virus(Taskkill.exe) and said it had removed it. But after going back in the system folder, Taskkill.exe was still there. Online Housecall Scanning Sites seem to be blocked, so I'm unable to run any online virus scanner. For additional information, he has had kazaa on his computer before and I think it's most likely related to that (Though he's deleted it now). Can anyone help in any way?

taskkill.exe isn't a virus - it's part of Task Manager as far as I'm aware. The version on my PC is 71Kb dated 18/08/2001 - I'm running XPPro

Well This Taskkill is stopping me access programs I need to use to help clear his system. I've never come across it on my system, it don't even exsist on my system or several others I own. Fact is. How the hell, if I can't delete it. Can I disable it,even?

Drayline, Open your Task Manager (Ctrl/Alt/Del) and end the process on taskkill.exe then try to delete that file or you may be able to get rid of it in SAFE mode. Check out the link below. http://www.pestpatrol.com/PestInfo/i/imi_1536_a.asp Tufenuf

you gotta boot the XP in safe mode and then do the cleaning up. I had a similar problem and fixed it this way. Rohin Koul

Drayline, As johnr atated in Response Number 1 taskkill.exe does come packaged with Windows XP Pro but it isn't included with Windows XP Home so be carefull. The link below may be of some help. Why does Task Manager, MSCONFIG, or REGEDIT disappear while opening Check out "Rename these utilities and run them or use MVP Doug Knox's "Emergency Msconfig, Regedit, Task Manager" utility" at the bottom of the page. HTH, Tufenuf