Task Scheduler not working.

It appears Task Scheduler is 'missing in action'. If I go to Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Scheduled Tasks, I get nothing when I Click on it. If I go to it from Control Panel, nothing happens when I click on it (plus the icon is changed to that generic icon that appears when you boot up--the same ones that show before your usual icons appear when booting up). If I try Start > Run > services.msc I get the error: "Cannot find the file 'services.msc' (or one of it's components). Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available." Using FIND, the services program DOES exist. I cannot find anything on MS technet site either. How can I fix this Task Scheduler?

I'm helping a close friend. Previously, she got hit with some trash about a month ago and I used your cleaning steps at: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407 (worked like a charm!). Not sure if she was having the Task trouble beforehand, but guessing she did. She had to upgrade to Norton Antivirus 2004 last year and then renewed it in October and was getting a lucomserver error. Norton's site wasn't much help. Uninstalling NAV and tring to reinstall has not been successful (the NAV install now seems to be dependent on the Task Scheduler program working properly).

System Specs:

Win98SE (factor installed)
Dell Dimension L500Cx 500MHz
Intel Celeron Processor
128 RAM
7.5G hardrive
PLANAR MOTHERBOARD

 

Seems the PATH enviroment variable have gone FUBAR.

Control Panel -> System -> Advanced-tab -> Environment Variables-button

 

She cannot find an Advanced button on any of the tabs.

 

Oops didn't see she was using Windows 98. I got confused about you mentioning "services.msc" and thought she was using 2000/XP. And my advice was about getting services.msc to work.

Don't know much about the task scheduler in Windows 98 (Though it seems that Norton AV has its own Task Scheduler).

Maybe these thread at google can guide you in some direction:

Repair Task Scheduler after Virus
Google Groups: Task Scheduler Hiccoughs and Dies--Help Needed

 

Also, please consider the possibility that Norton did not uninstall properly. Norton AV is notoriously difficult to completely remove and that might keep you from reinstalling. What steps did she take to uninstall Norton? If it was thru Add / Remove there still might be some files left behind.

Follow the steps in the link below to completely remove NAV 2004:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...sf&view=docid&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=

Good luck and let us know.

Steve

 

Thanks so much! The link to 'Repair Task Scheduler after Virus' is the one I used. I tried the simpliest first: just renamed all 6 of the current mstask files (.exe .dll .chm .inf .hlp .ini) and then copied new versions from a computer with the same IE version (did not have to be same OS). Then re-installed Norton with no problems.