Why can't I open the display settings on my computer?

I cannot open my display settings to change them. If I right click the desktop and click 'properties' nothing happens, If I go to my control panel and click 'display' nothing happens. I cannot enable a screensaver or anything. What could be causing this problem? (I have Windows XP, 2.2 ghz, 768 ram, ati graphics card, erm... not sure what other info might be helpful to know). I scanned for viruses and adware but came up with nothing. Can someone please help me?

Why can't I open the display settings on my computer?anti virus scan

If you computer comes up clean after running your resident security products, you may want to consider running a System File Checker (SFC). This can be run in Safe Mode should you prefer. To get into Safe Mode either hold down or tap the F8 key repeatedly while the computer is starting up. To run SFC, close all applications such as Office, Messenger, Email, etc, and go to:

- Start

- Run

- Type in sfc /scannow (include the space before the " / ")

What SFC does is that it attempts to fix or replace critical operating system files. Sometimes this can be done without the installation disk, however it may prompt you for the appropriate operating system installation disk. If that is the case, then you know that you definitely have file corruption or something missing. Insert the disk if prompted. Also you should run SFC using the Administrator account.