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Recently, I tried to Ctrl-Alt-Del, but I found my administrator disabled. I tried to edit the registry, but regedit is disabled, too.

My friends say it's a Pro-act virus, and as I am just a beginner in the "virus area", I don't have much idea about what to do. Should I format the PC? As long as I don't use Ctrl-Alt-Del, my PC functions just fine, and I'm able to do everything I used to do before almost with the same ease.

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If you have an administrator for your machine, ask them to remove the virus. Whilst we can all make suggestions to remove malware, it will be much simpler if you had full control over the system and if someone has locked you down, it should be their responsibility to remove it - they must have a reason for locking it down and anyting we suggest may be breaking rules that you agreed to on your network/school/office etc. –  William Hilsum Jan 14 '10 at 15:56
The "lockdown" sounds more like malware than policy here. –  Dave M Jan 14 '10 at 16:00
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3 Answers

There are a nuumber of Malware apps that block access to registry and other diag tools. Ussing an alternate will not solve the real issue. You may have some nasty bot or a keystroke logger that is the real issue.

Symantec talks about one malwware that disables registry editing here:


There are others.

Be sure system restore is turned off before you do anything.

Also try Spybot Search and Destroy and Adaware located in these locations



Some malware will block access to these sites. If so, please comment and we can provide more info.

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Try ctrl+shift+esc to access the Windows Task Manager.

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ahh, any "proper" virus will disable the task manager 'for good', even start > run > taskmgr wouldn't help :) –  Molly7244 Jan 15 '10 at 1:42
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If your task manager currently isn't working, check out AnVir Task Manager. It is defined as a "task manager replacement" which has a few more features than the regular task manager:

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Process Explorer is also an excellent replacement but the interface is very different:

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You can use either tool temporarily until you remove the virus.

If you need a free anti-virus, check out Avira AntiVir. I'd do a full system scan with Avira as well as MBAM (Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware).

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Thanks, john, gr8 help, but actly i was looking for a way to remove the virus. I'll try Avira. –  ajai-juiceman04 Jan 14 '10 at 14:50
+1 for Anvir ... just couldn't help it :) –  Molly7244 Jan 15 '10 at 1:34
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