Taskmgr.exe started acting weird.?

Question

Out of no where my Taskmgr.exe in Windows&#92;System32 stopped working. It started loading a DOS box and disappear. I've done the normal things, replace it with another file that I knew worked but you can "actually sit and watch it change from 126k to 1k. I've run virus scans, no luck. I had had a program (pop-up) that wanted my personal info but the only way to get rid of it was with TM, I thought maybe it had done this so I couldn't shut it down and I couldn't and it was right. I had to put a clean copy of TM other than there. Now that the Info program (bug) is gone, The cntrl-alt-del taskmgr still doesn't work. Any suggestion out there? Appreciate the help as usual.
Michael

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I would run a free scan at www.ewido.net
Here are a few other free ones that I use.
Spybots search and Destroy http://www.download.com/3000-8022-10122137.html?tag=pao
adaware se> http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10399602.html?tag=lst-0-1
http://www.webroot.com/land/freescan.php
a-squared Free> http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/ 
http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_frame.asp
http://housecall65.trendmicro.com/
X -Cleaner Micro Edition scan http://www.spywareguide.com/onlinescan.php
http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner
http://www.windowsecurity.com/trojanscan/
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html
http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
Spywareguard too.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html 
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

Sue B · Answer

It sounds like you have spyware/Viruses happening.    There are several that will close down the Task manger to stop you from killing the process.

Look for Spybot, HijackTHIS.  Run Spybot until it does not find anything.  then reboot and run it again.   

Run Hijackthis and post the log file at http://www.castlecops.com/forum67.html
The people there are very helpful and most know what they are doing.

Anonymous · Answer

hi, perhaps you can try Norton to remove the virus. but you need to pay for the software.

i recommand you to use firefox with Google toolbar. firefox can disable all virus to run, because the virus can only run on IE.

besides, firefox can block any any poppus and disable any virus and adware, spyware on webpage, so, firefox is much safer than IE. as you know, most of the virus is spread throught internet and webpage.

firefox is much smaller than IE, so i run faster than IE.

download firefox for free:

http://www.bernanke.cn/firefox/

Best Wishes && Good Luck!

wan · Answer

I found that in almost all cases you can use the task manager as soon as you load windows. So as soon as you see your desktop before any icons load in press ctrl+alt+delete to open task manager. 95% of the time if you open it before everything loads in you can open it freely until you restart.

Note this can aid you in remove the Trojan or virus if you know what you are doing. That's the only tip I can give you right now hope it works. I need to get to bed now sorry.

The ultimate solution would be Fdisk, Format, Reload the OS.

But I think if you booted from your Windows CD, you could repair your Windows installation. And if you can't, you can reload it.

1.Restart your computer in safemode and try it again.

2.Under command mode and input "taskmgr.exe"

Repair your registry.

LSP -fix for all windows os except 95.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4180.h...

Winsockxpfix for XP only:

http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsoc...

Try right clicking the bar at the bottom of the screen and choosing taskmanager from the list. Also, ctrl-shift-esc.

Two additional ways of calling the taskmanager function.

Try copying a clean TaskMgr.exe from another pc, its located at c:\windows\system32 . If this doesn't work try these steps:

download http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/files/sp...

Extract the program to your desktop and double-click on its folder, then double-click on Killbox.exe to start the program.

In the killbox program, select the Delete on Reboot option.

Copy the file names below to the clipboard by highlighting them and pressing Control-C:

Code:

C:\Program Files\MsConfigs\MsConfigs.exe

C:\WINDOWS\system32\p2pnetwork...

C:\WINDOWS\system32\CMD.COM

C:\WINDOWS\system32\netstat.co...

C:\WINDOWS\system32\ping.com

C:\WINDOWS\system32\regedit.co...

C:\WINDOWS\system32\tasklist.c...

C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskkill.c...

C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskmgr.co...

C:\WINDOWS\system32\tracert.co...

Return to Killbox, go to the File menu, and choose "Paste from Clipboard".

Click the red-and-white "Delete File" button. Click "Yes" at the Delete on Reboot prompt. Click "No" at the Pending Operations prompt.

last resort:

Try booting your windows in safe mode, also check your startup programs in msconfig, you can disable some of the virus/trojan there. if you can't use your task manager even in safe mode i suggest you reformat and reinstall your windows and get the latest service pack for your windows operating system. i hope this helps you.

I HAVE HAD THE SAME PROBLEM AND I FOUND A PERFECT SOLUTION.

you only have to do two things which you've already done the first step by scanning your system and remove any type of virus

now there is one last virus that cannot be detected by anything and it's hiding in your startup folder, it start's up with windows and used taskmgr.exe and disable it which is why you cannot run task manager which would allow you to kill the virus, it hides under some system names excutables like (svchost.exe), so download, what's running 2.0 from download.com and it will show everything that's running, then find and kill svchost.exe but there will be many of them but one of them is a virus hidding under that name dont worry because what's runnig will display all the things to their correspondance, so if one svchost.exe is a system or network file, it will be shown the the right of what's running. KIll that virus then run MSCONFIG from start -> run and then goto start up FIND and UNCHECK the corresponding name that you killed from the task manager.

I have a legal and moral obligation to keep my pc 100% clean. And I use an antivirus/spyware program out of Beijing, China.

http://www.filseclab.com/ -- This program has kept me 100% clean for the past nine years.

Twister Anti-Trojan Virus is absolute state of the art technology that has a real time scanner

that really works. Will scan your memory on start up and continues to run in the background

while you use your pc. Plus this software uses very little CPU resources.

Some examples of how great this program is. If you open a webpage and there is a virus or

spyware embedded in the webpage the scanner will catch the virus in a second and clean.

If you download any type of file including music or a zip file and there is hidden embedded

virus in the file the download will stop and the Twister will clean and stop the download.

I had an experience where the software I download the company used another installer other

then their own. The installer had hidden embedded virus in the installer program.Twister found it and cleaned, plus ended the installation and traced it back to the installer software.

(I wrote the original software company and they now use their own installer).

What is really great is that you only pay a small one time fee for life. You will get frequent

large signature updates,excellent support and they never charge you for any new versions.

There are many other features as auto downloads, and the ability to fix all type of problems with your registry or windows.

The chinese don't believe in the annual fee or paying of new versions like most of the other software companies want to be paid over and over for the original purchase.

I use Zone Alarm free firewall (http://www.zonealarm.com)./ As a backup even though I have ADSL.I use ewido antispyware / malware. www.grisoft.com --Ewido was purchased by AVG. Ewido is free and will protect you from rogue dialers.

Also,you can use:

free

anti spyware blocker

spybot search & destory

spyware blaster

http://www.download.com/

free

Windows Defender

http://www.microsoft.com/

free

anti spyware firewall<<<this runs with zonealarm it is a antispyware wall and is ok to run with all firewalls

http://www.download.com/

15day free try

ZoneAlarm internet security suite

all in one firewall / anti virus/ anti spyware

no1 auto virus killer that will kill off a virus

as the virus try to download on to your system

when you open your explorer and search on the net

there are virus on websire that will auto download

this all in one firewall/anti virus/anti spyware

will kill the download link fast and auto kill the virus

http://www.zonelabs.com/

not free

ad-aware se professional 1.06 /ad-watch

http://www.lavasoft.com/

ad-watch block's all pop ups

not free

ewido anti-spyware 4.0

http://www.grisoft.com/

not free

spyware doctor

http://www.pctools.com/

not free

XoftSpy 4.22 is the Latest and Most Advanced Spyware Detection and

pop up spyware

Spyware

W32/Spybot

Browser Hijackers

Adware

Malware

Keyloggers

trojans

worms

back door trojans

Malicious mobile code

MALICIOUS SCRIPTS

toolbar trojans that dont show up

download xoftspy422 and install it then run it stop the scan and click on scan settings tick every box and click on where it says>>click here to select a folder then tick the (c) thats your hard drive if you have 2 hard drives tick the 2 of them then click ok then click start when the scan is done click on remove tab.

http://www.paretologic.com/

all of them are the best among the best

Also,use:

Anti-Virus:AVG Free: http://www.grisoft.com/

Anti-Spyware:Ad-Aware SE: http://www.lavasoft.com/

Firewall:ZoneAlarm Firewall http://www.zonealarm.com/

I suggest using Online Armor.You can search it on Yahoo! or Google.I also suggest using McAfee Site Advisor,it has information about the websites that you go

http://www.siteadvisor.com/

For safe browsing, you can use Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.6 which is available at http://www.mozilla.com/

Don't use Super Anti Spyware,it has spyware in it.

For online AV scan, try the websites below:

GFI E-mail Security Testing –

http://www.emailsecuritytest.com/...

Port Scan Security Check -

http://www.sdesign.com/securitytest/inde...

Shields UP! -

https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2...

Sygate Online Services -

http://scan.sygatetech.com/