Hi. This is my first post. I'll try not to make it too long.

Anyways, I had a really bad virus in my computer. so I took it to Microbyte, a computer store close to where I live. It took 3 weeks to fix and I just got it back today (6/24/09). The computer had a message it kept coming up when i tried to download or use my administrative tools. It read:

"C:\Windows\System32\compmgmt.msc

The service cannot be started either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it."

So when I got it back today, I tried to update. Well it kept failing. So I gave up and tried to download an update for flash player. That message came up again except the end of it was different, talking about temporary files. And i still can't use my admin tools.

Right now all I can think of is to click on start menu & accessories. Right click on command prompt and select "Run As Administrator". When it prompts you for permission grant it or provide an administrator password. Type in sfc /scannow. You might be prompted for your Vista disc. This will probably take a while. Post back with the results and if need be I'll try to help you out tomorrow.

I clicked on the command prompt, trying to use the 'run as administrator'. but it gave me the same message. The one about the service thing. And I am the administrator.

Ok I guess just run the command prompt and see if it lets you do that. I think you should talk to the computer techs that you took your computer to and tell them that now you can't use your computer.

I think you should talk the computer techs that you took your computer to and tell them that now you can't use your computer.

Agreed.

I did. He looked at it and said that the virus had corrupted my system files and I should just wipe the computer and put the system back on. So I did. But thank you soooooo much for trying to help me!!!!

Hi ,

I know this is a vista post but I have had the same problem on XP before . Should the problem arise again try the following :

Although I had one account only , that one account set as Admin with Guest account off . I was unable to use any Admin features . It was a while ago but will probably work with Vista . Delete your dysfunctional Admin Acc , If I remember correctly you can save any file settings to another created account , so just create a non admin user account and transfer file settings when deleting the Admin Account .
Then set a new Administrator Account . I searched google high and low and tried various idea's and suggestions but this was the one that worked .

Also a fresh reinstall works but isn't always an option .

That won't work. For one thing you can't delete your own account except through computer management both of which which requires admin privileges. Two you have to have administrative privileges to create an account especially with Vista. The only way this can be done is to access the Administrator account which they try to keep you from doing with Vista Basic or HP. You also can't access the users and groups section of computer management in those versions anyway. In addition if the system was as corrupt as the guy said it would have to be eventually reinstalled anyway. Unfortunately I don't believe that the guy wanted to mess with it.

It's an alright computer place. I had taken it in essentially because I 'thought' one of my temporary files had been messed up because when I turned on my computer it said temp2.exe has stopped working. I had no idea what that was though. He did fix that. i had to take 3 other computers in too. It just kinda irked me that he didn't even really look at the rest of my computer.

Point taken Townsbg - like I say it was a while ago , also agree that an employed tech should have looked further than " a virus " . Still - hope everything is ok now