Enable a disabled Task Manager, Registry Editor and more…

Viruses, trojans and all kind of Malware loves to disable your Task Manager to hide their presences in processes or to annoy you. There is several methods to enable the Task Manager. You will see this message :

“Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator “

The simpliest method is to run a registry file with this content :

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
“DisableTaskMgr”=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system\]
“DisableTaskMgr”=dword:00000000

Copy-Paste it in a text(Notepad) file and save it with the extension .reg and whatever name, it should looks like this : xxx.reg

Run this file(double click), reboot your computer and in the best scenario Task Manager is at place. If not, try to run this registry file in Safe Mode.

Other method is this :

– Click Start
– Click Run
– Enter gpedit.msc in the Open box and click OK
– In the Group Policy settings window
– Select User Configuration
– Select Administrative Templates
– Select System
– Select Ctrl+Alt+Delete options
– Select Remove Task Manager and double-click the Remove Task Manager

As an alternative you can use a small program which enable the Task Manager founded here.

In case you Registry Editor was disabled you see this :

“Registry Editing has been disabled by your administrator”

Then Click Start, Run and type this command:

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

Other method is this :

Click Start, Run and type gpedit.msc and press ENTER
Go to the following location:

User Configuration | Administrative Templates | System
Double-click Disable registry editing tools and set it to Not Configured
Exit the Group Policy Editor

If the setting already shows Not Configured, set it to Enabled, and click Apply. Then revert it back to Not Configured.

There is a free utility which can do the job for you called Sergiwa Antiviral Toolkit  , this utility can enable also Command Prompt, Registry Editor, and other utility disabled by the virus.

Can be downloaded or read more about it here.

The free version has not the AutoRemove feature and has no Removable Media Malware Defender. Don’t forget to run it in Safe Mode and to reboot for changes to take place.

I must to mention here that a virus process can monitor the registry keys preventing to enable the Task Manager, any changes made are reverted back. In this case must be used firstly a process explorer, identify and kill the virus process. Please don’t complain all these are too complicated, maybe your AntiVirus can not disinfect or even detect the virus at all. In any case your AntiVirus will not enable the Task Manager for you.