Windows explorer displays a folder on startup

[Richard Sinkler]

This has been happening for a while, but when I fire up my Xp computer, after all the desktop icons appear, I get a popup box from Widows Explorer. It is a folder called Amazon which contains another folder called Kindle. I have searched the startup folders of mine and the administrator. The administrator's startup folder is empty. Mine only has one thing in it, and it has nothing to do with Windows Explorer, Amazon or Kindle.

Where else can i look to get this to stop?

[Dave Potter]

I have searched the startup folders of mine and the administrator....Where else can i look to get this to stop?

You don't say how you searched startup. Did you open Msconfig and look at all the items under the startup tab?

Another reliable way to do it is Spybot S&D. Its "Utilities" has a tool that lists all startup items.

[Pete Nicholls]

open regedit and search for the window path

[Richard Sinkler]

I have searched the startup folders of mine and the administrator....Where else can i look to get this to stop?

You don't say how you searched startup. Did you open Msconfig and look at all the items under the startup tab?

Another reliable way to do it is Spybot S&D. Its "Utilities" has a tool that lists all startup items.

Found the startup folder in the list of programs you get when you click on "Start" button at the bottom of the screen. Now that you mention msconfig, That rings a bell. I will try that.

Although I know how to edit the registry, I would rather use that as a last resort.

[Richard Sinkler]

Went into msconfig startup, and there was not an entry that mentioned windows Explorer in any way, One line said:

C:\documents and settings\richard\local settings\application data\Amazon cloud player\amazon music helper.exe

This was the only mention of Amazon and I don't believe it would call up Windows Explorer and open an Amazon folder.

I do have 2 lines that are totally blank except for the checkbox which is checked, and 1 that has a zero next to the checkbox and a zero in the command column and the following in the "location" column (which is also checked):

hksu\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run

What's up with those blank lines and the line with the zero. I'm afraid to disable them, thinking that they might be hidden files.

Is there a different msconfig for each user?

[Richard Sinkler]

Well, I have it "kind of fixed". I never found where this folder was being called from. But, I did find the folder and renamed it. Now it doesn't come up. But that is just a band-aid. None of the startup folders had a line to call up explorer or this folder. Now to see if I can stop my Magic Jack from auto starting.

[Dave Potter]

Went into msconfig startup, and there was not an entry that mentioned windows Explorer in any way, One line said:

C:\documents and settings\richard\local settings\application data\Amazon cloud player\amazon music helper.exe

This was the only mention of Amazon and I don't believe it would call up Windows Explorer and open an Amazon folder.

I do have 2 lines that are totally blank except for the checkbox which is checked, and 1 that has a zero next to the checkbox and a zero in the command column and the following in the "location" column (which is also checked):

hksu\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run

What's up with those blank lines and the line with the zero. I'm afraid to disable them, thinking that they might be hidden files.

Is there a different msconfig for each user?

Richard, frankly Win XP is so far in my past I won't even try to give you any kind of advice specific to XP. MSconfig is generic, and I can talk to that.

First, I think you typo'ed "hksu". I hope you meant to type "hkcu". If so, as I recall without opening it, that's where the startup activity is listed in the registry. You can delete them from there with impunity, but once they're gone, they're gone. There's no "undo". They just won't "startup" anymore automatically.

Having said that, I don't recommend making changes to the registry unless/until you have total clarity that what you're doing is what you want to do. Before I'd make any registry changes, I'd do two things: 1) export your entire registry to a file, and optionally, export the section you plan to change, using the "export" command from within regedit. That way, if you change something that breaks your computer (it happens, it happened to me last week on a laptop), you can restore the registry from safe mode, your backup software, or your windows repair disc (you HAVE one of those, right?). Plus, it's just good insurance to have a reasonably current registry backup file on hand, that you can access in an emergency. Second, I'd make sure I had a bullet-proof disk image you could restore if everything went south and you no longer can boot to XP. Failing to have at least those backup options, I wouldn't mess with the registry.

The business about the unrecognizable startup entries is too detailed for me to comment on without seeing it. A screen grab would be helpful. I'm still unclear on exactly what you meant by "calling up Windows Explorer". **SOMETHING'S** running, and it has to run somewhere. IMO, the task at hand is to find out what/why it's running, and deal with that. You should be able to do that OUTSIDE the registry, using one of the utilities that can display startup activity.

I can't answer the question about different startup configs for different users, but my guess would be there are.

On your question about "hidden files", my advice is to open Explorer, and the view options menu, and tell the OS to show all files. There's no way to deal with troubleshooting issues if you have a blindfold on. Having some files "hidden" is fine in a perfect world, where nothing ever goes wrong. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a "perfect world".

Cut to the chase: Using whatever you want that shows each item in the startup list, look at each one, identify it, and make a decision whether you want it running at startup or not. One way to approach it is to run msconfig, uncheck them all, then restart the computer repeatedly checking them one at a time to see which one is unwanted. Once you identify any that are undesired, you could go into the registry and delete it, or just uncheck it in msconfig.

[Wiz Feinberg]

Simple answer:

Download CCleaner from www.piriform.com. Install it, open it, then click on the left side on the Tools button, then on the Startup link slightly inside on the left. Search the entries for anything that resembles the Amazon folder, highlight it and click on Disable. Reboot and see if it is gone.

[Richard Sinkler]

Here is what is in the startup folder using CCleaner:

Yes HKCU:Run AdobeBridge
Yes HKCU:Run Amazon Cloud Player C:\Documents and Settings\Richard\Local Settings\Application Data\Amazon Cloud Player\Amazon Music Helper.exe
Yes HKCU:Run cdloader magicJack L.P. "C:\Documents and Settings\Richard\Application Data\mjusbsp\cdloader2.exe" MAGICJACK
No HKCU:Run cdloader2 magicJack L.P. "C:\Documents and Settings\Richard\Application Data\mjusbsp\cdloader2.exe" MAGICJACK
Yes HKCU:Run ctfmon.exe Microsoft Corporation C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
Yes HKCU:Run GarminExpressTrayApp Garmin Ltd or its subsidiaries "C:\Program Files\Garmin\Express Tray\ExpressTray.exe"
Yes HKCU:Run MSMSGS Microsoft Corporation "C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe" /background
Yes HKCU:Run Wisdom-soft ScreenHunter 6.0 Free 0
Yes HKLM:Run Acrobat Assistant 8.0 Adobe Systems Inc. "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 11.0\Acrobat\Acrotray.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run Adobe ARM Adobe Systems Incorporated "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\AdobeARM.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run AdobeAAMUpdater-1.0 Adobe Systems Incorporated "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\OOBE\PDApp\UWA\UpdaterStartupUtility.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run AdobeCS6ServiceManager Adobe Systems Incorporated "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\CS6ServiceManager\CS6ServiceManager.exe" -launchedbylogin
Yes HKLM:Run APSDaemon Apple Inc. "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Apple Application Support\APSDaemon.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run ATIPTA ATI Technologies, Inc. C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel\atiptaxx.exe
Yes HKLM:Run Cobian Backup 11 interface Luis Cobian, CobianSoft "C:\Program Files\Cobian Backup 11\cbInterface.exe" -service
Yes HKLM:Run DLBXCATS rundll32 C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\DLBXtime.dll,_RunDLLEntry@16
Yes HKLM:Run dlbxmon.exe Dell "C:\Program Files\Dell Photo AIO Printer 962\dlbxmon.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run ehTray Microsoft Corporation C:\WINDOWS\ehome\ehtray.exe
Yes HKLM:Run IAAnotif Intel Corporation C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\iaanotif.exe
Yes HKLM:Run OE Trend Micro Inc. "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Titanium\Plugin\TMAS\TMAS_OE\TMAS_OEMon.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run QuickTime Task Apple Inc. "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
Yes HKLM:Run SigmatelSysTrayApp SigmaTel, Inc. stsystra.exe
Yes HKLM:Run SwitchBoard Adobe Systems Incorporated C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\SwitchBoard\SwitchBoard.exe
Yes HKLM:Run TkBellExe RealNetworks, Inc. "C:\program files\real\realplayer\update\realsched.exe" -osboot
Yes HKLM:Run Trend Micro BTC Trend Micro Inc. "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Titanium\plugin\TMDC\TMDC.exe" -btc
Yes HKLM:Run Trend Micro Client Framework Trend Micro Inc. "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\UniClient\UiFrmWrk\UIWatchDog.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run Trend Micro Titanium Trend Micro Inc. "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Titanium\UIFramework\uiWinMgr.exe" -set Silent "1" SplashURL ""
Yes HKLM:Run WLM Trend Micro Inc. "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\Titanium\Plugin\TMAS\TMAS_WLM\TMAS_WLMMon.exe"
Yes HKLM:Run Zune Launcher Microsoft Corporation "C:\Program Files\Zune\ZuneLauncher.exe"
Yes Startup User Event Reminder.lnk C:\pmw\PMREMIND.EXE

[Richard Sinkler]

The only thing I see bout Amazon is the line that ends in:

C:\Documents and Settings\Richard\Local Settings\Application Data\Amazon Cloud Player\Amazon Music Helper.exe

That line isn't calling Windows Explorer. It's executing a file called Amazon Music Helper.exe

[Wiz Feinberg]

Open CCleaner and click on the Registry button, from your usual logged in account. Check everything except "Unused File Extensions," then click "Scan for Issues." See if any of the results, if any, seem to relate to your errant Explorer window.

It is usually safe to delete the references located in all but the File Extensions settings. But, save a backup to your My Documents just in case something breaks.

[Richard Sinkler]

Thanks Wiz. That did it. I stated above that I renamed the file and stopped the problem, but this was the proper fix. There was a line in Ccleaner results that said:

Problem: Old Start Menu Key
Data: Amazon
Registry Key: HKCU\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\explorer\menuorder\startmenu2\programs\amazon

I went back and renamed the folder to Amazon and rebooted my computer. The Explorer window does not come up.

[Wiz Feinberg]

Great Richard. Shall I close this topic for you, or do you need further input?

[Richard Sinkler]

Go ahead and lock her up. Thanks again for the help.