Ctrl Alt Del

[Stevenpfo]

...doesn't work. I can't find Task Manager on my computer to access it from somewhere else. Anyone know of some kinda work around for this? I'm used to using ctrl alt del to check on stuff and it's getting frustrating without it

 

[Speedo]

Right click on the task bar and select task manager.

 

[Stevenpfo]

Thanks Speedo. That won't work either. But atleast I know a second way to get to task manager now

 

[Sadan01]

Hold down CTRL + SHIFT and then press ESC. That is the keyboard shortcut for Task Manager.

Else go into the start menu, select run and type in "taskmgr" without the quotes. Click ok and it should open.

Do you have any other problems with .exe files being opened? For instance, if you went into the start menu, select Run and then type in "notepad", once again without the quotes, does Notepad open?

 

[Stevenpfo]

Everything else on my comp works great. Ctrl Shift Esc got me nuttin. Using Run to start task manager got me a "another program is using that" and using Run to start notepad made notepad start perfectly fine

Thanks for the help. Now to figure out what the heck is using my task manager. Here's to hoping it's not a virus/spyware or something.

 

[Sadan01]

Steven, are you using Windows XP?

 

[Sadan01]

Sorry, should have posted the rest of this information with the last post.

If you are using Windows XP, go into the start menu, select run, type in "cmd" without the quotes, and then click on ok.

At the command prompt, type in the following:

tasklist (and then press ENTER)

You will get a list of all processes running on the system. See, you dont even need task manager for this kind of thing If you need to kill anything in the list, do a search on google for KILL.EXE or go to the following address to download SystemInternals utility: PsKill Instructions on how to use it are on the website.

I do hope this helps. If you need any further help, let me know

Sadan01

 

[Stevenpfo]

Yep. With SP2.

As far as I know I have all the latest drivers and all that good stuff for everything. I just find this odd because nothing is slowing down and my system doesn't randomly chug in spots it shouldn't. Everything is running smooth. Except task manager.

Only thing I can think of is I haven't updated windows in like a month. Maybe i'll check that out right now.

 

[Stevenpfo]

typing in cmd brings up the cmd prompt for less than a second than it disappears. so i found the cmd.exe in "C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386\cmd.exe" and used that as it's the only cmd.exe on my computer. typing in tasklist only made it bring up the next line ... example:

C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386\tasklist
C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386\

same as hitting enter with nothing there if ya know what I mean?

Edit: Kill.exe and its list.exe also collapse just like typing cmd into the Run thing after less than a second.

Edit 2: There are no windows updates available to me. I have em all.

 

[Sadan01]

Have you got up to date anti-virus software on the computer? It sounds like there might be a virus on the computer. There are some viruses that stop .exe files being opened - in other words, they will do exactly as you said. Whatever you open will open for a second and then close.

There is another program you can download and use to display what is loaded in memory. The program is called HiJackThis. You can download it here.
The main website is here. Gotta go seeing as I am at work

 

[kcwong]

Stevenpfo, is the account you're using an admin account? Non-admin accounts could be set to be unable to open task manager.

 

[Sadan01]

That has to be specifically set though as a user account with just "user" priviledges still has access to OPEN task manager. They may not be able to kill any processes but they can till open it.

Generally, group policy is the main tool to lock this down, so if Steven has set this up, then this could be the reason that Task Manager will not open. However, without going back and reading through the rest of the posts in this thread, I am sure he said at one point that Task Manager does open for a split second and then disappears. That sounds something like virus activity to me.

 

[GenMarshall]

Speeking about getting the task manager, is there a way to make a shortcut link to it (so that it can be docked in objectdock)

 

[Sadan01]

Speeking about getting the task manager, is there a way to make a shortcut link to it (so that it can be docked in objectdock)

Yes there is. The filename is TASKMGR.EXE. It is located in the \Windows\System32 folder. If you are using Windows 2000, the path will be \WINNT\System32.