CMD command and services window will no longer open

[Guest]

ok all of a sudden on my windows XP home - I cannot load cmd from the run
window anymore - also ctrl-alt-delete will no longer bring up the task
manager OR even services from the control panel. This is very strange - I
just get a popup alert window telling me the file is in use by another
program. There isn't anything else running that I know of - however, I
cannot tell since the services are no longer loading either. I looked at the
list in SAFE mode and didn't see anything that wasn't supposed to be there.
Very strange - anyone any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Steve

 

[Guest]

Start>Run>type MSCONFIG and click OK. Now click the startup tab
and see what is checked/running. You can uncheck/disable apps from
starting to save system resources and avoid conflicts such as you are
getting now. Click Apply and Close. Reboot.

 

[Rock]

ok all of a sudden on my windows XP home - I cannot load cmd from the run
window anymore - also ctrl-alt-delete will no longer bring up the task
manager OR even services from the control panel. This is very strange - I
just get a popup alert window telling me the file is in use by another
program. There isn't anything else running that I know of - however, I
cannot tell since the services are no longer loading either. I looked at the
list in SAFE mode and didn't see anything that wasn't supposed to be there.
Very strange - anyone any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Steve

Does either msconfig or regedit run from Start | Run? If not then it's
a malware infection.

 

[Roberto]

ok all of a sudden on my windows XP home - I cannot load cmd from the run
window anymore - also ctrl-alt-delete will no longer bring up the task
manager OR even services from the control panel. This is very strange - I
just get a popup alert window telling me the file is in use by another
program. There isn't anything else running that I know of - however, I
cannot tell since the services are no longer loading either. I looked at
the
list in SAFE mode and didn't see anything that wasn't supposed to be
there.
Very strange - anyone any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Steve

Could be a viral infection, run the following from safe mode
sysclean http://www.trendmicro.com/download/dcs.asp for the program and
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/pattern.asp for the latest pattern file

AD-Aware
http://www.download.com/3405-8022-5153545.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5

rgds
Roberto