Every time I start up my computer a small yellow box appears that says Sytemic Antivirus Auto Protect is Disabled.

Is this a pop-up from Symantec or from Windows security center?  Does it go away after a few seconds?  If you open up the Symantec icon in the tray or from the Start Menu what does it show about the status of the auto protection?

If it's the Windows security center, what is happening is that security center sees no auto protect because it's not started yet.  As soon as Symantec get s fully running the message will go away.

I'm assuming you mean Symantec not Sytemic? If it's disabled this isn't necessarily an error - it can be disabled as a preference. It will keep warning you though as you're unprotected.

To re-enable, try this link for details (your version may vary)

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/1997121131456

Many people report this problem. e.g.:

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1183531&page=1
http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=101&threadID=203157&messageID=2123823

etc...
Sometimes it's related to using System Restore, sometimes a corrupt definitions file. The answer most often cited is an uninstall/re-install of the program.
You should contact Symantec about this problem...

I had a similar problem when i was using Norton 2003, 5 years ago it happend to me after the pc got infected with a virus.
The virus will disable all the Symantec services that should start when booting the system.
As well it will corrupt the definition files for it as Photoropic has mentioned.

First can you run Hijackthis to let us see what's there on your system that's runining now?
Download Hijackthis from here.
http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis/download

Install,
Scan,
Don't fix anything, just attach the log here.

While you let us work on this, You can go online to Trend micro Website and do an online Scan for your computer.
This will take some time depending on your pc's speed, size and number of your files and how many drives you have.

http://prerelease.trendmicro-europe.com/hc66/launch/


You might want to try After cleaning your system with Trend micro online scan, check for spyware/trojans/malware with Combofix.

But first we will have a look at your hijackthis log.

#1

Why on earth did the user accept this as a fix?  There's no solution here.