I get this from malware from time to time. One of the best ways to find and destroy some of the weaker virus, trojans and worms is to Ctrl+Alt+Del to get to Task Manager. Malware writers know this so they write a script to disable the Task Manager.

Here is how to enable task manager

Disable Task Manager and possible Malware:

The easiest way to enable the Task Manager and get rid of most malware is to perform a  Windows System Restore.  Please note that this does not get rid of really ugly malware such as Rootkits and some trojans, but it will work on most lame malware.

Get to System Restore (via Safe Mode):

1)  Reboot in Safe mode: Restart system, hit F8, select “Safe Mode”

2)  Proceed in Safemode: When prompted (as in the picture above) Select “NO”

3)  Restore Wizard: Select a date prior to when you recieved the malware (system restore does not delete newly downloaded files, only new changes in the registry… including “task manager disable”)

Restoring to a past restore point

xtra has a good page on how to restoring the registry on Window 95, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP. 

 

other methods:

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Taskmanager_error.htm