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Rorsach

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19 years ago

R

Rorsach

510 Posts

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9592

April 27th, 2007 17:00

"Programs" folder keeps Appearing on Desktop

Strange, pretty trivial behavior on my E520 with Vista HP.  After I boot up, and occasionally even when I have not just boot up, a folder called "Programs" appears on my desktop.  It is empty save for a hidden "desktop.ini" file. 
 
Does anyone have any clue why it is popping up?  I feel like it might have to do with an incompatible program I installed a while ago, but I have since uninstalled all non Vista-compatible software and the issue persists.  Like I said, it's not the biggest deal in the world, but I wouldn't mind stopping it from happening.  Thanks!
  • MG

    Mary G

    6 Operator

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    20095 Posts

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    Posted April 27th, 2007 18:00

    I haven't seen this in a while. Check your Start menu, All Programs, Startup folder for any shortcuts. Remove any unwanted programs you find there. If nothing is there, start Windows Defender, Software Explorer and see if you can disable the program in startups that is causing this. This can be caused by an old non vista program trying to load at boot--unnecessary addon items like sound utilities, real player, adobe, sonic, etc.
  • R

    Rorsach

    510 Posts

    148

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    Posted April 27th, 2007 18:00

    Thanks for the quick reply Mary,
     
    I emptied my startup folder first thing.  I'll go through the startup manager and see if I can find any entries from old software.  You mention not hearing of this in a while.  Do you know what sort of program caused the issue before?
     
    Thanks!
  • MG

    Mary G

    6 Operator

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    20095 Posts

    148

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    Posted April 27th, 2007 20:00

    It's usually an addon program that puts an entry into the Run section of the registry. You can use msconfig, startup to uncheck items, but using Vista's Win Defender software explorer really works best and can always be undone.
  • R

    Rorsach

    510 Posts

    148

    0

    Posted April 27th, 2007 22:00

    Thanks for the reply, I'm going through both MSConfig and Windows Defender. However, I have narrowed down the cause of the folder's appearance. It pops up whenever Windows Explorer gets Reset. Normally this happens on startup, but occasionally I force reset explorer after updating software. Also, I copied the text from the hidden desktop.ini file, although i doubt it will tell anyone much. Any thoughts will be appreciated: [.ShellClassInfo] LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21769 IconResource=%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll,-183 Again, I thanks anybody who replies.

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