On Startup Windows Tries to Open "c:\Program"

Every time my Windows 8 Pro installation starts up, it displays a box asking which application to use to open a file. If I select an application, the file cannot be found and it is apparently named c:\Program.

There is no such file on my system and I can't find anything in the Startup folder or anywhere else.

Has anyone seen this behavior? Any ideas on how to stop it?

Thanks a lot,

This sounds like a missing quote problem: somewhere a "C:\Program Files\xxx.exe" is missing the quotes so the Program <space> Files acts as a separator/delimiter.

The missing quote could be in the Startup folder links or some registry Run setting.

How to search registry

Thanks for that input. All the StartUp folders are empty.

However, I'm at a loss as to how I could search the registry for RUN keys with missing quotes.

I've Googled the question without luck.

Can I impose on you for some suggestions about how I'd find the RUN keys?

Thanks very much.

Download WhatInStartup - Disable/delete programs at Windows startup and run it, it displays the list of all applications that are loaded automatically when Windows starts up

EDIT: You can also disable/enable with the red/green buttons in the toolbar, no need to play with registry

A good auto-run tool is in Sysinternals Suite:

Autoruns for Windows


It is fairly elaborate and thorough.

You may see a bunch of errors that are not important - you are looking for something that looks corrupted or truncated.

The Nirsoft tool topgundcp suggested is also a good choice - a bit simpler.
Another good one is CCleaner (Tools->Startup->Windows; Tools->Startup->Scheduled Tasks; and Tools->Startup->Context Menu)

northstar7 said:

Thanks for that input. All the StartUp folders are empty.

However, I'm at a loss as to how I could search the registry for RUN keys with missing quotes.

I've Googled the question without luck.

Can I impose on you for some suggestions about how I'd find the RUN keys?

Thanks very much.

Click to expand...

Hello northstar,

OPTION THREE in the tutorial below can help show you more on how to do this. Look in the registry locations specified in the tutorial, and in the right pane of "Run" for each location, you will see the name of the program and if the path is in quotes or not like in the screenshot below.


http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5180-startup-items-manage-windows-8-a.html





Hope this helps,
Shawn