ctrl alt del does not work!

a little late, i'd say

Something new about CTRL ALT DELETE

ok this is a major issue. I just set up this new computer. all decked out w/ awsome hardware and win xp pro. however my ctrl alt delete doesnt work and i'm pretty sure im infected w/ some sort of bug. I have norton internet virus and ad aware but none seem to pick it up. I did the Run command of taskmgr and it says "Another program is using this file". which is BAD in any case ya look at it. Another issue is that the Run command regedit brings up a window but gives an error on the dos loading window saying
"16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem = C:\WINDOWS\System32\regedit.com
The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction.
CS:053f IP:ffe4 OP:fe ff 1d 09 e9 Chose 'Close' to terminate te application."
im fairly sure that i 've got SOME sort of bug or virus and i need this fixed ASAP, any ideas?

you said you just set this machine up, did ctrl+alt+del ever work?

re:

I am having the exact same problem as otaku, ctr alt del does not work, neither does ctrl shift esc, and when i try to run taskmgr it gives me a "another program is currently using this file."

I am pretty sure this must be some kind of virus but I cannot pinpoint it in hijackthis... any help is greatly appreciated.

hijackthis is simply a tool for removing browser hijackers. follow the instructions i pasted here to clean out the rig right and proper. you will need administrator access.

HJT alone will not overcome viruses and other stuff. if you want to do this yourself...

download, install, and update AVG free edition. (free.grisoft.com) do not run a scan.

download, install ad-aware SE personal (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/).

update definitions file dut do not run a scan.

download, install ccleaner (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4191.html), choose not to

install the context options during setup)

download, install ewido security suite (http://www.ewido.net/en/) uncheck "Install

background guard" and "Install scan via context menu" during installation.

reboot your computer into safe mode by pressing F8 repeatdley during the boot process until

you get a menu. use your arrow keys to select safe mode and hit enter. log into windows as

"administrator", not your normal user account.

run a full system scan in AVG antivirus.

reboot your computer into safe mode by pressing F8 repeatdley during the boot process until

you get a menu. use your arrow keys to select safe mode and hit enter. log into windows as

"administrator", not your normal user account.

run a full system scan in ad-aware. when prompted with the results, check everything except

the "MRU objects" and click "delete" in the bottom right corner.

reboot your computer into safe mode by pressing F8 repeatdley during the boot process until

you get a menu. use your arrow keys to select safe mode and hit enter. log into windows as

"administrator", not your normal user account.

open ewido and run a complete system scan. when it finds its first problem, If Ewido finds

anything, it will pop up a notification. You can select "clean" and check the boxes "Perform

action with all infections" and "Create encrypted backup" before clicking on OK.

open ccleaner, and run the operation "run cleaner" in corner

reboot your computer, letting it boot normally and log into your user account. download

mozilla firefox (www.mozilla.org) and make it your default browser. when you sue the

internet, use firefox instead of IE to do so.

these operations take out more than 90% of your problems. run hijackthis, save a logfile,

and post it here. and you can uninstall mcaffee, as it is a truly bad product and won't

protect your system. you are far better off with AVG free edition, which costs nothing and

keeps itself up to date.

ctrl alt del

none of the previous solutions worked for me i cant even acces it through the run box it says that it is being used by another program

plese help

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Go and read the Viruses/Spyware/Malware, preliminary removal instructions. Follow all the instructions exactly.

Post fresh HJT and AVG Antispyware logs as attachments into a new thread in our security and the web forum, only after doing the above.


Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

i have a toughy...

i tried that, but it said that another program is using that file
any other suggestions?

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Yes, follow the instructions in my post above.

You obviously have some kind of virus/spyware infection.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

This probably won't help anybody but you can access the Task Manager by right clicking the Windows Taskbar and then clicking Task Manager. I think I recall having a virus that didn't allow me to open the Task manager, and you can use a program such as Spybot S&D that shows a list of running processes.

The solution

I have had this same problem in fact earlier today at a lan party My Keyboard decided to act up the same way,and also whenever we would play my keyboard would act as if esc and tab were being held down,I borrowed an extra keyboard and there was no problem.


You have to buy a new keyboard.

I recently had the same problem with the control key not functioning.

What worked for me was;

1) downloading Hi Jack This...

2) Fixing and removing "yahoo object browser helper." I then rebooted and all was back to normal.

I hope this helps someone.

This thread is coming on to 4 yrs old
But seeming it has been posted to already, and HijackThis mentioned a couple of times now.
And, because it's possible found through Googleing

Viewers\Members Should have a look at this thread:

UPDATED 8-step Viruses/Spyware/Malware Preliminary Removal Instructions