Task Manager is missing.

J

jack in nb

New to me computer. XP Home, everything works well - except that I can't find the Task Manager.

There's one user showing on the fire-up, and it is recorded as administrator.

It won't come up with <ctrl-alt-delete> nor on the link in the Task Manager Help panel.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
 
Did You right click on the blue task bar, and choose task manager from the menu??

Method 3

Click Start, Run and type Regedit.exe
Navigate to the following branch:

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

In the right-pane, delete the value named DisableTaskMgr
Close Regedit.exe
Click to expand...

from here

==or change the value as below:

Value: 1=Enable this key, that is DISABLE TaskManager
Value: 0=Disable this key, that is Don't Disable, Enable TaskManager

==

But, most of all you should run scans to see if you are infected:

Download, install, update and do full scan with

Malwarebytes Free (MBAM): http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/

Remove all found, reboot, and run again until scan run clean, can be removed afterwards if you so choose.

What is your current antivirus??

post back with the results of scans and answers to my questions
 
Missing task manager

Thanks, Elizabeth.

Opened a can of worms here, and working my way through them.

Downloaded and tried to install AVG. It failed on a later screen. Downloaded Malware, ran. First try - reported 754 items. Quarantined. A second run showed no items logged, and none in quarantine. I did not delete the first list, but it seems to have disappeared.

Computer running quite slow and the odd peculiar behaviour - such as not opening a new tab in firefox, second or third try and 2 or three pop up.

Still trying; I may have to restore to the point before the AVG download.

Haven't tried the regedit route yet.

I'll keep you posted.
 
never ever run without an antivirus, if that many items were found, run scan again in safe mode, it will be slow but let it finish, reboot, and try to install an antivirus offline and let it scan before connecting to internet for database update.

===

I fear that it might be best to completely wipe the drive, this will insure all virus and infections are cleared. then reinstall os, you can back up your personal data to a cd, then reinstall after pc is clean.

do not mess with the registry yet, just run scans with mbam and an antivirus.
 
Saturday update, and a question!

Malwarebytes scan and performance analysis completed. The 754 threats reappeared, and I deleted them. Third scan came up clean.
AVG reinstalled successfully, and run. No problems found.

Surfing, the computer slowed to a crawl, and AVG gave me a couple of messages that memory was overloaded. Seems Mbam.exe had tucked itself in behind the scenes, apparently hogging ram, so I removed Malwarebytes for now. Speed came back almost to pre-experimenting level.

The box has 512 mb ram (2 - 256 sticks), so - thinking to speed it up - I replaced the two sticks with a pair of 512's. On start-up a panel advised me that memory had been changed. F2 recognized the 1024 memory, but then reverted to an apologetic error screen; choices to continue in safe mode, setup etc.; wouldn't proceed further. Replaced the 2 256 ram sticks, and back in business.

I'm assuming that AVG is operating in the background - how can I check? (Task manager on my old machine gave me a clue to that.)

I'll try exchanging the ram again in the morning, and then attempt the regedit scene.
 
Hello again, Elizabeth.

Thanks for the links. Fired up autoruns; there are probably 50 items in there that I don't recognize - probably related to the previous owner's ops. At one time my previous computer guru (lately deceased, God rest his soul) gave me a site that identified those items with an explanation of their functions and whether or not are needed.

You wouldn't by chance know the site offhand?

My new machine (hand-me-down from a friend) is a Dell Dimension 3000, 40 mb hard drive, Service tag 6NQW4R61, 2.4 gig processor speed. OS XP home, Serv. Pack 2. Considerable upgrade from my older 800 mhz desktop! There's still 50% free on the hard disk - lots for my work. I thought of installing a second hard drive for backup, but there's no tinwork to support bolting it into place in the cabinet.

The two ram modules are 256 Kingston (DDR 3200?); the 512 sticks I attempted to install are RoHS DDR 512 PC-3200, a matched pair removed from my deceased 1200 mhz unit. Haven't reinstalled yet per the PC World article you referenced. However, I did follow most of the author's instructions on the first attempts.

I did not take your suggestion re wiping the drive and starting fresh, because I do not have a legal copy of XP to reinstall.

Busy shoveling snow - we've had 6 major events in the past 3 weeks. The plowed banks are now approaching the height of the eaves on our home.

Later, Jack.
 
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http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/

you can search lots of startups at above site, autoruns gives you a right click ,search online option that will take you to a google search page for the item.

if you are on service pack 2 then you are woefully out of date as xp has service pack 3 for a long time now.

unless you have a 64 bit system, I have a dell 3000 also and mine is 32 bit, and I do have a spot inside for another harddrive.

to test if you have 32 or 64 bit, go to start, right click on my computer, choose properties, on the general tab if 64 bit is not shown anywhere, then you have a 32bit system.
========

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/dimension-3000/drivers

for drivers

http://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/a...ktops/dimension-3000_owner's manual_en-us.pdf

pdf of your owner's manual, where it will show you how to add a second drive and also if the drive has never been wiped there should be a hidden partition with a recovery system on it.

microsoft has a legal download of xp home and professional, but they are in floppy disks format. mdsn technet has a legal download but you have to join for a fee.

============

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=24

download for service pack 3, download, install, and reboot twice.

===========

some tips, if you are not using a program uninstall it.

you can download and install ccleaner from piriform, do not use the registry section, but it can clean up lots of temp files,

also at the bleeping computer site, there is a utilities section to download some helpful cleanup tools, TFC will clean up all temp files, adaware and JRT are two good programs to run.

==========
 
More homework! You are giving me a raft of helpful info. It's much appreciated, believe me!

It's going to take me a few days to get through all those links.

My machine is a 32 bit. And the Service Pack 3 site you posted will give me the SP3 upgrade suitable for networks and IT professionals. The site provides a link to another site for the single computer upgrade, but the second site doesn't seem to have it.

Question: will the "professional" SP3 work on my machine?

Downloaded the manual, and wading my way through it now. It shows the tinwork for the floppy drive, but no provision for a second hard drive. I see how I can do some creative metalwork and fabricate a box for that, but that's down the road - after I get the bugs and cobwebs cleaned up.

I have removed several unused programs; once I understand all the items shown by autoruns, I can clean out more. My hard drive is clicking every second or two - something I've not experienced before, and I suspect something in the autoruns list is causing it to check something or somewhere for an update.

More in a couple of days.
 
ignore the statement for IT developers only, this is the only way to get sp3 and you need sp3 to have microsoft updates work, there are about 100 updates to bring you up to fully patched, and if you are going to surf the web with xp, then you need to be fully patched and run an antivirus in real time, and use a browser other than IE, I use firefox, but you need IE for microsoft updates.

---------------

please get fully updated before doing anything else.
 
How to install a second hard drive.

A bracket is required for the second hard drive, this can be purchased for $7.99 from HERE

You need to buy three connector IDE cable, similar to THIS and can be purchased from a local computer store.

Dell does not have the procedures for installing a second hard drive in the D-3000, but because the D-4600 has the same chassis, you can use the same instructions for the physical installation.

Set the Hard Drive jumpers to "Cable Select" and install the second hard drive on the middle cable connector.

How to install a second HARD DRIVE and more information is HERE.

After installing the second hard drive, check in the SYSTEM SETUP that the drive is set to "on" [enabled].

In order for windows XP to recognize the second hard drive, it must be partitioned and formatted, using XP disk management.
Click to expand...

from here

I have had a second drive at one time, so I know this works, I did not have to buy a bracket as I had removed the drive from my dimension 2400 to use as a slave in my 3000
 
Update.

An eventful few days.Got Process explorer going. Quite illuminating! It just might replace the task manager.

While going through e-mails, got a notice that Flash player needed an update. The download included McAfee Security scan plus..... Trusted the McAfee name... It did nothing, and I couldn't uninstall it normally. Reinstalled Malwarebytes, but it didn't report any problem with it.

"Search engines are your friend". They certainly are. Several discussions re removal, most didn't work, but parts of 2 or 3 did finally get rid of it. Wasted a good part of the day on that one!

BTW, I've been setting restore points before each change - just in case.

AVG was disabled with one of my old program uninstalls - reported it couldn't find MFC110u.dll. In the repeat download of AVG I got AVG 1-click instead of the virus shield, so ran it, and cleaned up some more. The correct AVG was downloaded and is now operational.

1-click reported that the restore points soaked up considerable disk space, but didn't tell me how to clear the old ones. I've tried google, but the instructions found remove all but the last one. Somehow I would feel more comfortable with perhaps the last week's; perhaps unnecessary.

Any advice on this one?

Thanks for the tips on the hard drive installation - it's definitely do-able, but that's down the road. I think getting the ram increased will be first. With AVG and Firefox running, system resources are being stretched!

As of this morning, Service Pack 3 and a host of other updates are now successfully installed.

My next challenge - more housecleaning with autoruns and the bleeper site.

And another issue - I can't get my speakers to work. MLI 699's, removed working from my earlier computer. Plugged into the green jack on the back; power light on. on one occasion I got the Windows sign-off sound, but nothing else. Any thoughts on this one?

Reflecting on the time involved so far, it has been quite uneconomical, but a really stimulating mental exercise. It's given me considerable insight into the innards of the machine, even if it's obsolete. And satisfying, keeping a useable machine out of the landfill!

And a great deal of respect for the help provided by folks like yourself, answering possibly inane questions to help us sort things out.

I hope to have a final report before too long!

Jack
 
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FIRST REPLY:

ccleaner will let you delete some restore points

disk cleanup will let you delete all points except the last one.

turning off system restore will delete all restore points, turning on system restore will create a new system checkpoint.

In your case, once you have run scans that are clean, I would turn off system restore, run TFC, that you can download from bleeping computer, then reboot, turn system restore back on, reboot again.

then do a test of system restore:

create a restore point

create a shortcut on the desktop, (you can right click on a document and choose send to desktop, this will create a shortcup)

then open system restore and choose to restore to the point you just created.

when system restore is completed the shortcut should be gone.

---------------------

when you download anything, always check each page and read thoroughly before clicking next and/or install.

never install anything except what you downloaded

if the option is available do a custom install, and uncheck any boxes that are not with your specific download.

---

I do not like avg, but some people do, I am using 360 Internet security by Qihoo

http://www.360safe.com/internet-security.html

I always like to download the antivirus and its database and install offline before connecting to the internet, the above link also has a button to click on to download the antivirus database. if you wish to change from avg.

I do not recommend avg, or mc afee or norton as a lot of their products interfere with xp operations.

-------

great on getting fully patched!! :)

---

in the next post I will put a cleanup list that was posted by Shenan Stanley and it is very good for cleanup.

Note avg is a resource hog, give 360 a try and see if the cpu usage goes down.

----

yes I use process explorer rather than task manager for indepth study, but since my pc is running so lean, 20 processes, I can generally get by just opening task manager if I need to kill a process or check performance.

---------

https://www.google.com/#q=troubleshoot+speakers+not+working+in+xp

above is google search page for sound problems, go through the first listing which is the microsoft tutorial for xp on sound issues, and then post back with results, sometimes it is a driver that is needed.

but first check device manager and see if there are any yellow warning signs next to the sound device.
 
SECOND REPLY:

Advice from Shenan Stanley:

Probably will want to clean up that machine...

Check for malware:
Download, install, run, update and perform full system scans with the following two applications:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/


Removing everything they find. Rebooting when needed. (You can uninstall one or both when done.)
Then perform an online scan with the eSet Online Scanner.

The less you have running all the time, the better the things you want to run will perform:

Use Autoruns to figure out what all is starting up when your computer does/when you log on. Look up anything you do not know about usingGoogle (and/or ask here.) You can hopefully figure out if there are things starting when you computer does (or you logon) that you do not need and then configure them (via their own built-in mechanisms is the preferred method) so they do not start up - using your resources without reason.
You can download and utilize Process Explorer to see exactly what is taking up your processor/CPU time and memory. This can help you recognize applications you might want to look into alternatives for and/or get rid of all together.

Do some house cleaning and dust off that hard drive:

You may wish to free up some disk space (will also aid in getting rid of things you do not utilize) by going through these steps:

Windows XP should take between 4.5 and 9GB *with* an Office suite, Photo Editing software, alternative Internet browser(s), various Internet plugins and a host of other things installed.

If you are comfortable with the stability of your system, you can delete the uninstall files for the patches that Windows XP has installed...

http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/spack.htm

( Particularly of interest here - #4 )

( Alternative: http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_hotfix_backup.htm )

You can run Disk Cleanup - built into Windows XP - to erase all but your latest restore point and cleanup even more "loose files"..

How to use Disk Cleanup
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312

You can turn off hibernation if it is on and you don't use it..

When you hibernate your computer, Windows saves the contents of the system's memory to the hiberfil.sys file. As a result, the size of the hiberfil.sys file will always equal the amount of physical memory in your system. If you don't use the hibernate feature and want to recapture the space that Windows uses for the hiberfil.sys file, perform the following steps:

- Start the Control Panel Power Options applet (go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, and click Power Options).
-
- Select the Hibernate tab, clear the "Enable hibernation" check box, then click OK; although you might think otherwise, selecting Never under the "System hibernates" option on the Power Schemes tab doesn't delete the hiberfil.sys file.
-
- Windows will remove the "System hibernates" option from the Power Schemes tab and delete the hiberfil.sys file.

You can control how much space your System Restore can use...

1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.

2. Click the System Restore tab.

3. Highlight one of your drives (or C: if you only have one) and click on the "Settings" button.

4. Change the percentage of disk space you wish to allow.. I suggest moving the slider until you have just about 1GB (1024MB or close to that...)

5. Click OK.. Then Click OK again.

You can control how much space your Temporary Internet Files can utilize...

Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to a size between 64MB and 128MB..

- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS - Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to something between 64MB and 128MB. (It may be MUCH larger right now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents" (the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10 minutes or more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet Explorer.
-
You can use an application that scans your system for log files and temporary files and use that to get rid of those:

Ccleaner (Free!)
http://www.ccleaner.com/

( just the disk cleanup - don't play with the registry part for now )
Other ways to free up space..

SequoiaView
http://www.win.tue.nl/sequoiaview/

JDiskReport
http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/

Those can help you visually discover where all the space is being used. Then you can determine what to do.
After that - you will want to check for any physical errors and arrange everything for efficient access"

CHKDSK

How to scan your disks for errors
* will take time and a reboot.
Defragment
How to Defragment your hard drives
* will take time

--------------------------------------
 
Well, progress! Another foot of snow yesterday.

360 installed and running. And the memory usage is down probably 20%.

Sound is working. I followed the sites you suggested; they didn't load properly but the sound worked. BTW there were no yellow flags on any of the sound devices listed.

Ran ccleaner. Cleaned up a lot (about 1 gb)- including my saved passwords! - and I had a problem getting back on here. Finger trouble, I guess. But it did not remove the old restore points - will try disk cleanup next.

Retried my 1 mb ram again, but the critter still didn't like them. Possibly it's because they are DDR 512, and the manual says either DDR 333 or 400. I'm guessing those designations refer to the processing speed of the sticks.

So I ordered a 1 mb stick from china - $7. If it works, good - if not, I'm not out much. 6 weeks delivery on this item.

I looked at the hard disk mounting assembly, but shipping doubled the cost, so I scrounged a cage and a two-drive cable from a junker, and will modify it to fit at some point. I have 20 gb of space on the current drive - lots for present uses, but over the years I've been in the habit of backing up files to the second hard drive. Knock on wood, I've never experienced a drive failure, but there's always that chance!

At any rate, I have a bit more tweaking I'd like to complete, and will report further developments (and problems?) anon.

Again, I thank you for all the help. A real learning experience for me, and deeply appreciated!
 
you would do better to order memory sticks from the manufacturer.

you can clear the checkbox next to passwords, and since the passwords are on a cookie, you can select the cookie to not be removed with ccleaner , for here they are viglink.com and xpforums.com, just move those to the right side.

which sites did not work and I will get a better link

I prefer disk cleanup to remove old restore points, I removed compress old files from the list or else diskcleanup takes forever. :)

TFC from bleeping computer or geeks to go, will remove even more temp files., 360 will balk at being stopped as TFC will stop all running processes.

So let me know which probs you have now, and also have you tested your system restore??

and I prefer defraggler from piriform to windows built in defragmenter.
 
I sit, humbly chastised for my ram purchase - having forgotten your earlier comment on the subject!

The problem on the diagnostics re sound, as far as I can read it in my log:

downloaded Dell diagnostics, ran. It said it needs MS net framework (35 sp1?) software. Downloaded, disconnected from the internet per instructions; was advised it was unable to complete setup, and it vanished.

However, at this point I got an error sound in the speakers, and in a computer game (had neither before), but not on a Youtube video clip. On the second start-up the speakers worked normally.

Haven't tested restore yet....
 
for dell diagnostics, you need .net 4 client profile and .net 4 extended

below are links for .net 4 client, first is web installer, second is a standalone installer

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17113

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=24872

extended:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17718

once you have installed the above then when you run dell diagnostics, it will install dell system detect or you can install it yourself, the link below talks about what it does and has a direct download link from that page:

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN117738/EN

=============

be advised that there are many (at least 20 updates for .net 4 after you have installed both of these. make sure you check for the x86 or x64 install for what your pc is: 32bit or 64 bit.

also note that some updates have to be installed while shutting down and not restarting, You can tell by going to start-turn off pc- and if there is a little shield icon on the turn off radio button then you will click that instead of restart

and also note that .net's are very lengthy to install/download so be patient.

=========

have you run checkdisk??

if you have not burned a copy of the recovery console, and/or hirens boot cd you can run it from within windows, open a command prompt:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265/en-us
How to perform checkdisk

if you do not have Recovery Console installed, then run from the start menu

go to start, run, type in cmd

in cmd type in chkdsk c: /r and press enter

type Y for yes and press enter

type exit and press enter

restart pc, allow checkdisk to finish and run again, especially if any errors were found, you will want to run it until no errors are found

this is a lengthy process depending on the size of your harddrive, the percentages will fluctuate, this is normal, you can view report in the event viewer.

go to start>run> and type in eventvwr.msc, click on the applications directory, and in the right hand panel choose winlogon.

==============

very lengthy so will look for another post later on, :)
 
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