Unable to kill processes

[Guest]

Recently I tried to install an add-in for Excel, and it hung the program
before displaying the add-in manager. I could not shut the program down
normally, so I tried to end the task in Task Manager. When that did not work
I used the process tab to find EXCEL.EXE and tried to kill the process. This
did not work either, so I tried the command prompt and TASKKILL /F (no effect
either). I then went on to the web for a few good utilities, and downloaded
some from SysInternals. Unfortunately, they were also unable to kill the
process.

This behavior was not limited to Excel, I shut down the system and later saw
the same phenomena affecting Ad-Aware and WinZip. I downloaded and installed
the Debugger, and repeated the Excel hang. I then tried to attach the
debugger to the process and was unable to do so.

Can anyone point me in a direction here? I don't want to reinstall
everything and hope it works right, it seems to me that something is corrupt
and needs repairing, not reinstalling. Is there a tool that's designed for
this type of thing? What can I do, and what should I do next? I posted this
to the general board and did not get any productive responses to my question,
so I'm asking here.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

To repair all system files, go to Start/Run, and type: SFC /SCANNOW

Excel has an item on the Help menu, to "Detect and Repair."