I am running windows XP professional SP3 on a computer i have to work with over a remote connection. It had a virus that disabled the task manager and the regedit when we got rid of it, and the way in which it is disabled is unlike anything i can find online.

It simply acts as if the file has been deleted, but the icon is still there (Yes, even in system 32.) It says "Windows cannot find 'regedit' . Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the start button." I have tried the cmd registry editing methods and the gpediting methods and none of them have worked. It seems that this is an entirely new problem. It is also preventing the installation of norton symantec endpoint protection (which is company standard.)

I've brought in the two programs from another computer and that too did not work. The only thing that has worked is changing the file name and running it that way, but this is unacceptable. This is a company computer and has to retain the same system config as hundreds of others.

We've found "protector-jqnn"(Which i cannot even find reference to on google, but am sure that it is left over from the malware because it was a protector clone.) and "Virusrl2009" in the startup programs (After an exhausting viral cleanup) and tskmgr and regedit are the only things still not working.

I am part time IT here, and would really like to save the day. I'm unfamiliar with everything involved. So if anyone has the patience to help me, I'd be grateful. Please keep in mind that replacing our AV or using alternate files on a long term basis is out of the question as all company computers need to run what we have.
Thank you very much.