HOW TO START PROGRAMS IN WINDOWS STARTUP (XP)

Method 1 - Using the Group Policy Editor in Windows XP Professional

1. Click Start, Run, type gpedit.msc and click OK.
2. Under User Configuration, Click on the plus (+) next to Administrative Templates
3. Click on the plus (+) next tSystem, then click on Ctrl+Alt+Delete Options
4. Find Remove Task Manager in the right-hand pane and double click on it
5. Choose the option "Not Configured" and click Ok.
6. Close the Group Policy Window

Method 2: Change the Task Manager Option through the Run line

1. Click on Start, Run and type the following command exactly and press Enter

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Method 3: Change Task Manager through a Registry REG file

1. Click on Start, Run, and type Notepad and press Enter
2. Copy and paste the information between the dotted lines into Notepad and save it to your desktop as taskmanager.reg

------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"DisableTaskMgr"=dword:00000000
-------------------------------------

3. Double click on the taskmanager.reg file to enter the information into the Windows registry

Method 4: Delete the restriction in the registry manually

1. Click on Start, Run, and type REGEDIT and press Enter
2. Navigate to the following branch
   
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies\ System
   
   
3. In the right pane, find and delete the value named DisableTaskMgr
4. Close the registry editor
   

For Control Panel

Start | Run | Type: gpedit.msc | OK |
Navigate to >>>
User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Control Panel\
Prohibit access to the Control Panel
[[Disables all Control Panel programs.]]

Do the following step and get rid of it.
Open Run , type regedit and press enter
Go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Winlogon

and check for the key Shell, the value of this must be Explorer.exe . if you can see some other after that like Explorer.exe C:\PROGRA~1\MYWEBS~1\bar\2.bin... , then remove the second file from the value, means it must only Explorer.exe

In Regedit go to;

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

and delete any value except "Default".

then go to;

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

and delete value except default and anti virus.

Best of luck.

Hasan

Verify that the "Local Group Policy" or "Domain Group Policy" doesn’t block you from using
Task Manager in the Local Group Policy

1. Go to "Start" -> "Run" -> Type "Gpedit.msc" and press on "Enter" button.

2. Navigate to "User Configuration" -> "Administrative Templates" -> "System" -> "Ctrl+Alt+Del Options"

3. In the right side of the screen verity that "Remove Task Manager"" option set to "Disable" or "Not Configured".

4. Close "Gpedit.msc" MMC.

5. Go to "Start" -> "Run" -> Type "gpupdate /force" and press on "Enter" button.



For the "Domain Group Policy" Verify correct registry settings::

1. Go to "Start" -> "Run" -> Write "regedit" and press on "Enter" button.

2. Navigate to the following registry keys and verity that following settings set to default:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"DisableTaskMgr"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\LocalUser\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"DisableTaskMgr"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system\]
"DisableTaskMgr"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"DisableCAD"=dword:00000000

3. Reboot the computer.

Changing the default shell (all users):

1) open regedit (start menu > run, and type in regedit)
2) go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.
3) Change Shell from explorer.exe to the new shell path e.g C:\Litestep\litestep.exe
4) log out and log back in.

Changing the default shell (only current user):

1) open regedit (start menu > run, and type in regedit).
2) go to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon.
3) add a new string value (Edit > New > String Value) called shell. and set the value to the path of the new shell e.g C:\Litestep\litestep.exe.
4) log out and log back in.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/228309

i had a similar problem...
go to Start > Run
type "regedit" hit enter
go to:
HKEY-CURRENT-USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ System
see if there is a key that has a name, something like: NoBackground, or something like that... if so it should have a number 1, change it to 0, and that should be it...

tell me how it went :)