I bought a new the new ASUS m50a1 a couple of weeks ago and I've been trying to come to terms with Vista - one of the major reasons for purchasing it was because of both the software and hardware's capability of playing games.But just today something has gone horribly wrong - I don't know if it's a ASUS or Vista problem but thought I would try my luck (not that i've had much of that today) and ask this forum for any suggestions.So let me begin from the beginning.I start up the laptop.I get to the swipe finger or type password page.Niether work. I swipe and I swipe. Everytime I get "The system is not ready to verify your credentials"I retype and retype the password. Everytime I get "Unknown user name or bad password" or "Security Product manager not properly installed - check the target something" - how can I, I can't even log on to check it!I figured out that I now have 2 options: Either elect to bypass the security protect manager at the logon page or force a shutdown and upon reboot, run in safe mode. So I figure if I can just get to the main screen I should be able to start up the Security Protect Manager, turn the bloody thing on. But no. Jump into Security Centre, press turn on and get the message "Security Centre Service cannot be started.So jump onto the web and find similar postings and a fix to these problems.Press start - type services.msc, locate security centre service, switch tab to automatic (delayed) hit apply and then start and everything will be rosy.Not for me. Firstly as soon as I click the security centre service program a pop up box appears telling me: "Configuration manager: The machine selected for remote communication is not available at this time'. So I think well let's not worry about this and proceed anyway. So I follow all the steps and then recieve this:"Windows could not start up the security centre on local computer. ERR 1068: the dependancy server or group failed to start".Enough! - time for some real help.And now I am here, pleading for any suggestions that may help this troubled soul. And my troubled laptop.Thank you in advanceIan

Ian, I suggest importing the following registry and check if the issue is resolved. Please open notepad, paste the following code to it and save it as wscsvc.reg. Locate the file and double click to import it. Code Snippet Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wscsvc]"DisplayName"="@%SystemRoot%\\System32\\wscsvc.dll,-200""ErrorControl"=dword:00000001"ImagePath"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\ 74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,73,\ 00,76,00,63,00,68,00,6f,00,73,00,74,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,20,00,2d,00,\ 6b,00,20,00,4c,00,6f,00,63,00,61,00,6c,00,53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,69,00,63,\ 00,65,00,4e,00,65,00,74,00,77,00,6f,00,72,00,6b,00,52,00,65,00,73,00,74,00,\ 72,00,69,00,63,00,74,00,65,00,64,00,00,00"Start"=dword:00000002"Type"=dword:00000020"Description"="@%SystemRoot%\\System32\\wscsvc.dll,-201""DependOnService"=hex(7):52,00,70,00,63,00,53,00,73,00,00,00,57,00,69,00,6e,00,\ 4d,00,67,00,6d,00,74,00,00,00,00,00"ObjectName"="NT AUTHORITY\\LocalService""ServiceSidType"=dword:00000001"RequiredPrivileges"=hex(7):53,00,65,00,43,00,68,00,61,00,6e,00,67,00,65,00,4e,\ 00,6f,00,74,00,69,00,66,00,79,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,\ 67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,49,00,6d,00,70,00,65,00,72,00,73,00,6f,00,6e,\ 00,61,00,74,00,65,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,\ 00,00,00,00"DelayedAutoStart"=dword:00000001"FailureActions"=hex:80,51,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,14,00,00,\ 00,01,00,00,00,c0,d4,01,00,01,00,00,00,e0,93,04,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wscsvc\Parameters]"ServiceDllUnloadOnStop"=dword:00000001"ServiceDll"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,\ 00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,\ 77,00,73,00,63,00,73,00,76,00,63,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wscsvc\Security]"Security"=hex:01,00,14,80,c8,00,00,00,d4,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,02,\ 00,1c,00,01,00,00,00,02,80,14,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,\ 00,00,02,00,98,00,06,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,fd,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,\ 05,12,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,\ 20,02,00,00,00,00,14,00,9d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,04,00,00,00,00,\ 00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,06,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,00,01,\ 00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,0b,00,00,00,00,00,28,00,15,00,00,00,01,06,00,\ 00,00,00,00,05,50,00,00,00,49,59,9d,77,91,56,e5,55,dc,f4,e2,0e,a7,8b,eb,ca,\ 7b,42,13,56,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,\ 00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wscsvc\Enum]"0"="Root\\LEGACY_WSCSVC\\0000""Count"=dword:00000001"NextInstance"=dword:00000001