I am a bit unsure what inactivate refers to but the following may help
1. Hide the Rows or Colums, Right Click on the Row or Column and select Hide
2. Select the Row or Column and group it with the Alt Shift Right Arrow combination
that will give you a way to quickly hide or unhide the row/column
3. Select the Row/Column, then select the Protect Sheet Button on the Review Tab (Excel 2007), You can now allow users to select or not a number of items, some combinations of items require individual cells to have Protection turned on or off to give you the right effect. If you set a password ensure that it is written down somewhere.