Hi, here's the story, in an effort to make my computer safer I downloaded registry mechanic though torrents, annnnnnnnnd the crack didn't work so I attempted to run a file called "serial" thinking there was a serial inside, the icon for this file was a wine & white colour with a letter "e" covering most of the icon.

Anyway, now I can't run any system programs (if thats what they're called) when I run task manager it pops up momentarily then dissappears again leaving the error message " your system administrator doesnt allow you to use task manager" but......I am the system admin and only user on this PC.

Also, the search and run functions have dissappeared from my start menu, and when I try to run prompt, it again, comes up for a few seconds then dissappears.

Strange huh.....

Sounds like the fiel you downloaded is some kind of virus.

Try starting in safe mode and doign a system restore (start > accessories > system tools > system restore).

If that dosent work put your windows disk into the pc and do a system restore that way (you can do it when you repair your windows instead of reinstalling).

Hi.

I suspected that file was nasty alright.

When I go to system restore it tells me to enable system restore, when I attempt to do that, I'm greeted by this no matter how many times I restart the PC.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/9223/sc1zw2.jpg

As this is clearly the result of an illegal download, I'm afraid we cant help you with this.

Please read our rules, locked.