Lost Task Manager

[chevysix]

Some way or the other I have lost the task manager function in my
Windows 7 system. I am sure I did something to cause this but I
cannot figure out what it is.
I am running Windows 7 Home Premium with all the upgrades.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Nil]

Some way or the other I have lost the task manager function in my
Windows 7 system. I am sure I did something to cause this but I
cannot figure out what it is.
I am running Windows 7 Home Premium with all the upgrades.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

What happens when you type TASKMGR.EXE in Start | Search or Start | Run
| Open ?

 

[chevysix]

What happens when you type TASKMGR.EXE in Start | Search or Start | Run
| Open ?

One good thing is that I learned how to get the RUN function installed
in the start menu. When I entered TASKMGR.exe in the Run command box I
got the message "Task Manager has been disabled by your
Administrator".

Well I am the Admin and I certainly did not aim to disable this
function. Any Idea how I find out what I did to Disable this function?

 

[VanguardLH]

One good thing is that I learned how to get the RUN function installed
in the start menu. When I entered TASKMGR.exe in the Run command box I
got the message "Task Manager has been disabled by your
Administrator".

Well I am the Admin and I certainly did not aim to disable this
function. Any Idea how I find out what I did to Disable this function?

Oh oh, you may be infected. I'm assuming your computer isn't in a
corporate network where they can push policies to disable Task Manager.

Normally I'd give instructions on how to use the Group Policy Editor
(gpedit.msc) to modify the policies on a host (which are registry
settings) but you, alas, have the Home Edition which probably doesn't
have these type of admin tools. So here's an article on the registry
setting you have to change - if that is what blocks you from using Task
Manager:

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/nt/xp/registry/rtips23.shtml

You want a dword value of 0 for DisableTaskManager or just delete that
data item (so it is Not Configured). Normally you don't even have the
System subkey in the registry unless something there was configured
differently than the defaults.

If you didn't enable this option or do it using some tweaker then
something else did, like malware. They don't like you seeing them.
They like dark places and don't like the light. Another possibility is
that you installed some process manager where you configured it to
*replace* the Task Manager. Instead of loading taskmgr.exe, you should
be loading whatever is your replacement for it (or it should've done the
necessary registry edits to have it loaded when you try to load Task
Manager).

 

[charlie]

One good thing is that I learned how to get the RUN function installed
in the start menu. When I entered TASKMGR.exe in the Run command box I
got the message "Task Manager has been disabled by your
Administrator".

Well I am the Admin and I certainly did not aim to disable this
function. Any Idea how I find out what I did to Disable this function?

Actually, you are likely an administrator, not "the administrator",
which is a "hidden" account.
At this point, I have no idea if or how you disabled task manager.
One thing to think about is that some malware disables task manager.
Restrictive UAC settings can also disable it.

 

[Stan Brown]

Some way or the other I have lost the task manager function in my
Windows 7 system. I am sure I did something to cause this but I
cannot figure out what it is.
I am running Windows 7 Home Premium with all the upgrades.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

What do you mean by "lost"? Does Ctrl-Shift-Esc no longer do
anything? Do you get any kind of error message?

 

[Stan Brown]

One good thing is that I learned how to get the RUN function installed
in the start menu. When I entered TASKMGR.exe in the Run command box I
got the message "Task Manager has been disabled by your
Administrator".

Virus infection.

Download Avast on some other computer, one that's not infected, then
boot this one in safe mode and install Avast. (I think you can still
install programs in safe mode, but I'm not certain.) Run a boot-time
scan of Avast, and it should quarantine the virus.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Virus infection.

Download Avast on some other computer, one that's not infected, then
boot this one in safe mode and install Avast. (I think you can still
install programs in safe mode, but I'm not certain.) Run a boot-time
scan of Avast, and it should quarantine the virus.

If there's no access to another computer, there are some anti-virus
programs that let you run a scan from their website, so you (I mean the
OP) might be able to do that instead of your idea.

I don't recall if Avast is one of those.

 

[Boscoe]

If there's no access to another computer, there are some anti-virus
programs that let you run a scan from their website, so you (I mean the
OP) might be able to do that instead of your idea.

I don't recall if Avast is one of those.

<http://housecall.trendmicro.com/uk/>

But if I were he I'd re-install Windows because the damage caused by
these nasties is so extensive that it’s impossible to repair.

 

[chevysix]

What do you mean by "lost"? Does Ctrl-Shift-Esc no longer do
anything? Do you get any kind of error message?

First of all I want to thank everyone that has replied to my probem.

1. When I do the Control,Alt, Delete I get a screen with these
options:
A. Lock this computer
B.Switch Users
C.Log Off
D.Change Password
E.Cancel
I hit cancel and I go back to where I came from.

2. Per suggestion from one of you nice people here,I I installed the
RUN function in START and when I executed TaskMgr.exe from RUN I got
the message "Task Manager has been disabled by your Administrator".
Per perfurther suggestion, I went to C:\Windows|System32 and when I
executed TASKMGR.exe there I got the same message "Task Manager has
been disabled by your Administrator". I got the same message no
matter where I went for help and was told to execute any command that
would try and bring up Tasl Manager.

Norton Security Suite, as furnished by Comcast, has been running on
this system for at least a year. Microsoft Windows Defender runs a
Virus Scan every day as well and there are no
"Bad Guys" on this system that either Norton or Windows Defender can
find.

I have not had time to follow the suggestion yet that one of you gave
for me to change the registry. I have to do some scheduled work in my
Green House this after noon so I will get back at this later tonight.

 

[Andy Burns]

Task Manager has been disabled by your Administrator

If you're comfortable editing the registry, search for any occurrences
of DisableTaskMgr and set them to 0

 

[chevysix]

What do you mean by "lost"? Does Ctrl-Shift-Esc no longer do
anything? Do you get any kind of error message?

Thanks for you help

I wrote a much more complete synopsis of this but it must have gotten
lost somewhere as it has not shown up yet. In a nut shell when I do
anything that executes "Taskmgr.exe" the message comes up saying that
Task Manager has been disabled by the Administrator.

 

[chevysix]

What do you mean by "lost"? Does Ctrl-Shift-Esc no longer do
anything? Do you get any kind of error message?

Control, Alt,Delete brings up a screen with the optios: Lock this
compute,Switch Users, log off, change password or cancel. I just hit
cancel and it takes me back to where I came from. No error message
comes up at that time. Error message only come when I force Tasmgr.exe
to be executed

 

[Ken1943]

If you Google >windows 7 task manager administrator disabled< there is a
ton of info about it.

Control, Alt,Delete brings up a screen with the optios: Lock this
compute,Switch Users, log off, change password or cancel. I just hit
cancel and it takes me back to where I came from. No error message
comes up at that time. Error message only come when I force Tasmgr.exe
to be executed

KenW

 

[chevysix]

Oh oh, you may be infected. I'm assuming your computer isn't in a
corporate network where they can push policies to disable Task Manager.

Normally I'd give instructions on how to use the Group Policy Editor
(gpedit.msc) to modify the policies on a host (which are registry
settings) but you, alas, have the Home Edition which probably doesn't
have these type of admin tools. So here's an article on the registry
setting you have to change - if that is what blocks you from using Task
Manager:

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/nt/xp/registry/rtips23.shtml

You want a dword value of 0 for DisableTaskManager or just delete that
data item (so it is Not Configured). Normally you don't even have the
System subkey in the registry unless something there was configured
differently than the defaults.

If you didn't enable this option or do it using some tweaker then
something else did, like malware. They don't like you seeing them.
They like dark places and don't like the light. Another possibility is
that you installed some process manager where you configured it to
*replace* the Task Manager. Instead of loading taskmgr.exe, you should
be loading whatever is your replacement for it (or it should've done the
necessary registry edits to have it loaded when you try to load Task
Manager).

Thank you all whom helped me solve this problem. I searched the
registry and found the Disable Task Manager. I changed the Dword from
1 to 0 and what do you know Cntrol , Alt, Delete now causes the task
manager to appear. Here's hoping that there is not something in my
system causing the registry to get changed. Only time will tell as
like I said before, this system get scanned for malware every night.
Thanks again

 

[VanguardLH]

Thank you all whom helped me solve this problem. I searched the
registry and found the Disable Task Manager. I changed the Dword from
1 to 0 and what do you know Cntrol , Alt, Delete now causes the task
manager to appear. Here's hoping that there is not something in my
system causing the registry to get changed. Only time will tell as
like I said before, this system get scanned for malware every night.
Thanks again

You really need to thoroughly scan your computer for malware using more
than one program. What anti-virus software do you use? What other
anti-malware software have you used (you don't want it active or running
a real-time scanner at the same time as your primary AV program but you
can manually use it to scan)?

Something changed that registry setting. If it wasn't you (directly or
through some tweaker) then the most likely other cause is malware.

 

[Stan Brown]

You really need to thoroughly scan your computer for malware using more
than one program. What anti-virus software do you use? What other
anti-malware software have you used (you don't want it active or running
a real-time scanner at the same time as your primary AV program but you
can manually use it to scan)?

Something changed that registry setting. If it wasn't you (directly or
through some tweaker) then the most likely other cause is malware.

And it's quite unlikely that the malware did that and nothing else.
The motivation for a malware writer to disable Task Manager is to
prevent you from stopping the malware itself from running.