Task Manager Has Been Disabled, How to Fix It?

Many times when working on a computer that has been infected with a virus, trojan, or piece of spyware I find myself with the Task Manager being disabled. Malware creators like to disable Task Manager so it makes solving the problem and removing the issue difficult.

If this happens you'll normally have to edit the Windows registry to fix the problem. A restriction has been placed on the user to not allow them to run Task Manager, this might be ok in an office environment where the IT department wants to control things, but in a home office this can cause major problems trying to fix a malware or virus issue.

Listed below you will find the many ways to reenable Task Manager along with an automatic method that works wonders.

To open the Task Manager, you normally would do one of the following:

* Press CTRL-ALT-DEL on the keyboard
* Press CTRL-SHIFT-ESC on the keyboard
* Right-click on a blank area on the start bar and choose Task Manager
* Click on Start, Run and type TASKMGR in the run box and press Enter

Sometimes instead of Task Manager opening you'll see the following screen. In these cases, you'll have to follow the methods below to re-enable access to the Task Manager.
Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator

First we'll begin with the various registry modification methods for correcting this problem.

Method 1 - Using the Group Policy Editor in Windows XP Professional

1. Click Start, Run, type gpedit.msc and click OK.
2. Under User Configuration, Click on the plus (+) next to Administrative Templates
3. Click on the plus (+) next tSystem, then click on Ctrl+Alt+Delete Options
4. Find Remove Task Manager in the right-hand pane and double click on it
5. Choose the option "Not Configured" and click Ok.
6. Close the Group Policy Window

Method 2: Change the Task Manager Option through the Run line

1. Click on Start, Run and type the following command exactly and press Enter

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Method 3: Change Task Manager through a Registry REG file

1. Click on Start, Run, and type Notepad and press Enter
2. Copy and paste the information between the dotted lines into Notepad and save it to your desktop as taskmanager.reg

------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"DisableTaskMgr"=dword:00000000
-------------------------------------

3. Double click on the taskmanager.reg file to enter the information into the Windows registry

Method 4: Delete the restriction in the registry manually

1. Click on Start, Run, and type REGEDIT and press Enter
2. Navigate to the following branch

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies\ System

3. In the right pane, find and delete the value named DisableTaskMgr
4. Close the registry editor


Method 5: Download and Run FixTaskManager program

1. Click on the following links and download the program FixTaskManager to your Desktop

Main Site

Backup Location
2. Double-click on the file FixTaskManager on your desktop and run it

How to delete undeletable files?

Many times when trying to remove an unwanted program, especially a piece of adware or spyware, you may run across a file that is undeletable by any normal method.

When you try to remove it you'll receive the error message shown below telling you "access denied" and explaining the file may be in use.

You may also receive one of the following messages.

Cannot delete file: Access is deniedThere has been a sharing violation.

The source or destination file may be in use.The file is in use by another program or user.

Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.

So if the file is in use, how do you delete it?I'll show you several ways of removing these types of files and even some freeware programs that help you remove these pesky undeletable files. Windows 95/98/MEIf you are using Windows 95, 98, or Windows ME, the easiest way to remove an undeleteable file is to boot to a DOS prompt and manually delete the file. Before you do this, you'll want to make a note of the location of the file including the entire path to it.

Follow the steps below to delete these types of files.

If you already know the path to the file, please skip to Step 7

Click on Start, Find, Files and Folders Type the name of the undeletable file in the Named or Search For box Make sure the Look In box shows the correct drive letter Click on Find Now or Search Now and let the computer find the file Once the file is located, right-click on it and choose properties, make a note of the file location.

Usually this is something similar to c:\windows\system32\undeleteablefilesname.exeClose the search box Locate a boot disk for your version of Windows, if you do not have a boot disk, follow the steps on the link below to create an emergency boot disk.How to Create an Emergency Boot Disk for WindowsShut down and restart your computer with the boot disk in your floppy drive. The computer will boot to a DOS prompt that will look similar to c:\Type the following command and press Enter to delete the filer, substituting the phrase with the actual path and file name you discovered in Step 5 above.

del Example: del c:\windows\undeleteablefile.exeRemove the boot disk in the floppy drive and restart your computer The file should now be deleted.

Windows XPIn Windows XP, there are a couple ways to remove an undeleteable file, a manual way, and a couple automated ways using some freeware programs. First, I'll show you the manual way.

Manual MethodIf you already know the path to the file, please skip to Step 7Click on Start, Search, All Files and Folders Type the name of the undeletable file in the box shown Make sure the Look In box shows the correct drive letter Click Search and let the computer find the file Once the file is located, right-click on it and choose properties, make a note of the file location. Usually this is something similar to c:\windows\system32\undeleteablefilesname.exeClose the search box Click on Start, Run, and type CMD and Press Enter to open a Command Prompt window Leave the Command Prompt window open, but proceed to close all other open programs Click on Start, Run and type TASKMGR.EXE and press Enter to start Task Manager Click on the Processes tab, click on the process named Explorer.exe and click on End Process.

Minimize Task Manager but leave it open Go back to the Command Prompt window and change to the directory where the file is located.

To do this, use the CD command.

You can follow the example below.Example: to change to the Windows\System32 directory you would enter the following command and Press Entercd \windows\system32Now use the DEL command to delete the offending file. Type DEL where is the file you wish to delete.

Example: del undeletable.exeUse ALT-TAB to go back to Task Manager In Task Manager, click File, New Task and enter EXPLORER.EXE to restart the Windows shell. Close Task ManagerPrograms to automatically delete a fileRemove on Reboot Shell ExtensionThis is a nice extension that loads into the right click menu.

All you have to do is right-click on a file and choose "Remove on Next Reboot" and the file will be deleted the next time the computer restarts. Although it probably should only be used by more advanced computer users since it may be TOO easy to delete files using this program.

Pocket KillboxA simple .exe file that you can use to delete undeleteable files, although the program will also delete temporary files, edit the HOSTS file, and more.

A definite must have program when you are fighting an annoying spyware or adware program that won't remove. UnlockerUnlocker is another program that runs from the right click menu. Its simple and very effective.

The website even has a side by side comparision of other programs that accomplish this task. Using one of the three tools shown above, you should be able to remove those annoying undeleteable files once and for all.

What is thumbs.db?

I'm sure everyone using Windows XP has seen a small file in some directories called thumbs.db. This file is a cache of the thumbnail pictures in a directory. It speeds up the showing of thumbnails when you are viewing a folder in Thumbnail view.
The only drawback of the thumbs.db file is that it takes up disk space. Although this space is very small in most cases, if you have a lot of thumbs.db files littering your hard drive you may be able to save some valuable space by removing them. Follow the steps below to turn off the creation of this file and delete the thumbs.db files that are on your hard drive.To turn this feature off, do the following:

1) Open My Computer

2) Click on Tools

3) Click on Folder Options

4) Click on the View Tab

5) Place a check in the option "Do not cache thumbnails"

6) Click Ok

7) Close My Computer

Now follow the next steps to remove the thumbs.db files from your hard drive

1) Click on Start

2) Click on Search

3) Click on All Files and Folders

4) Type the following in the section called "all or part of the file name"thumbs.db

5) In the Look in box, make sure Local Hard Drives is chosen

6) Click Search

7) A long list of thumbs.db files should appear, click on Edit, Select All

8) Click on File, and choose Delete

9) Close the Search Results window

Although this tip isn't for everyone, if you are low on disk space and dont use the Thumbnail view to show your files, this may save you some valuable disk space.