Posted on Monday, 28th December 2009 by Bob

Many of the newer Spyware Infections are more and more difficult to get rid of because they block the Task Manager and other exe files, including the antivirus scanners available on sites like this one. This poses a problem, because how is a user supposed to clean out his or her computer if she can’t open the cleaning tool?

Times like this are when you have to get a little bit crafty, but I will give you clear instructions how you too can fix a blocked task manager, and will be able to open it so that you can momentarily stop the virus ‘process’ from running.

NOTE: Before you try this method, please try to boot your computer in SAFE MODE and see if you are able to open up your programs or task manager. If you have no success, then move on to these task manager instructions.

Step 1
Open up C:\WINDOWS\System32 and look for the file named taskmgr.

Step 2
Make a copy of taskmgr by first clicking on it to highlight it and then press CTRL + C and then CTRL + V. Once this is down you will have a new file named taskmgr - Copy.

Step 3
Rename taskmgr - Copy to explorer.exe by right-clicking on it and choosing “Rename.”

Step 4
Double-click on the explorer.exe file and the task manager will run without being shutdown.

With the ability to kill processes, you can now kill the associated spyware file and begin either manual or automatic spyware removal. I highly recommend automatic spyware removal because it is quick and safe.

SCAN YOUR PC, ENSURE YOUR SAFETYscan-spyware-doctor

Posted in Computer Protection | Comments (62)

62 Responses to “How to Fix Can’t Open Task Manager”

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