Unwanted Window on Monitor

Have you tried defrag ?

I defrag every week. That is not the answer, but , thank you.

You might try Windows restore disk if you have one...I would copy files to an external harddrive first just to be safe though...If you don't want to upgrade to win 7(recommended) and you don't have a restore disk then you might get a new copy of XP...

"Forever" word is not on MS dictionaries, but anyway, run "msconfig" from Start > run prompt to see (most of) what's automatically starting with windows. If wanted program is not obvious, you can disable one by one, apply and restart until you find it. Then revert the changes for the rest. If this doesn't work, come back for next level. S.M.

As I clicked my mouse to send my dilemma, to the computer world for help, I realized the that word "forever", was going to bite me. I will be very happy for it to just go away.

I ran "msconfig" and not being a computer guru, I soon found myself lost and lost Windows too. I finally have Windows back, but with more problems, beside my original one. One step at a time.

"Anonymous Hero" has a sure fix, but that admits defeat. My nephew would suggest the same.

I will try other suggestions and come back to this if I continue to fail.

Did you make any modifications on other than "startup" tab items of msconfig? There should be check marks before every startup command. That's how you enable or disable items, and it's generally safe, since it's reversible. Don't mess yet with "services" unless you know what you're doing. S.M.

Start Task Manager ([CTRL][ALT][DEL]) and see what applications are running. This may give a clue as to what to disable with msconfig (as described elsewhere).

When I start up, and only the unwanted window is open, I open the Task Manager and there are no Applications open but there are 48 Processes running.

I am not savey as to which processes I need to be running and which ones that I can get along without. This could be quite an adventure. I will have to experiment when time prevails. Thank you.

I served at Bentwaters AFB 1963-1965.

Thank you so much, my nephew would suggest the same. I have considered it a few times, but maybe life would become to simply for this Scorpio.

I hear you. We use both here.

Go to

C:\Documents and Settings\<Your User Name>\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

(Sometimes this location changes a bit but you should be able to find it.)

Copy the shortcuts to a safe place.

You might already be able to guess which one is causing the problem. If not start deleting them, either one at a time or in groups, and restart your computer.

Once you've figured out which ones you don't want copy the ones you do want back to the Startup directory.

If there are a lot of programs in the Startup directory that you don't want you might be able to save a lot of time on startup by not starting them.

I'm thinking it has to do with Works myself. I can't remember what exactly what was doing this on a machine I had right now. But if it was Works, I think installing the 8.5 update (in my case) fixed it. Then again, it might not have. It was so long ago. From what I remember though, it had to do with reminders in the works calendar. And thinking about it now, I'm pretty sure I never did get that to work right on a tablet I had.

Anyway, I think you were a little lost with the msconfig setup, here is a link I found.

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-xp/908018-value-cannot-null-path-1-a.html

Good luck!

I went to the site and Hound seems to have a handle on it, but I get uncomfortable in disabling and making changes, because I am not savey of all that I run into. In a similar attempt, suggested, I wound up disabling "Windows", and had less than a fun time getting it back, registered and activated. It is like I know enough to be dangerous to my computer.I work on 5 computers in two states and am away from the problem one until this weekend. That gives me time to clear my head and review all the good suggestions that come from "all over the world". And just that fact is amazing. Thanks to all the serious helpers and also for the comedians. I do appreciate all. When I get this figured out we will all know. Thank you.

Like I said, I really can't remember what was causing the error when I was getting it. If it was, or is Works, I remember it having to do with reminders being scheduled. One solution would be to make sure you have no reminders scheduled in there. Another would be to disable the service wkcalrem.exe in the processes that get run from msconfig.

But I wanted to mention something else that comes to mind that I had dealt with in case it applies to you. At one time I was having an issue with windows live gallery (photo viewer) I think. What was happening was that I had included another computer on my network in places to include photos from. But at some point I was getting an error if the other machine was not online. I figured I'd mention this because of the path error. If you've ever networked your machine at some point you might want to consider looking at things that might be trying to access another computer.

I'm sorry for the poor memory. If I still had that other pc I would probably have all kinds of bookmarked stuff to refer to.

I will explore the network possibility. I tried to network 3 computers together, maybe back when this started but was not successful. I had thought that I could access the computer in question for 1 or 2 files only, but not both ways with the 2 computers that I thought was sucessful. Then the next time I tried, I could not access anything from the other computer. This was over a year ago and I just gave up on the networking deal. I started using thumbdrives alot.I guess that I will have to have someone come in and network them for me. Maybe he or she will have a clue about my original problem too.

I understand about the memory thing, too.

Start your PC one more time, do what you normally do to make the annoyance disappear and then leave the PC running forever.

If you don't restart you won't be annoyed.

Would your nephew have suggested that?

Download:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default

Autorun

and click "Services" tab.

See which is undesired and un-chek it. [scroll down to end to see all autstarting ]

Restart and the service will not run with start-up.

Be carefull not to uncheck any necessary service.

Please note that the poster has said:

I am not savey as to which processes I need to be running and which ones that I can get along without.

I believe that you understand me and know the delemma, but not the answer.

I was hoping that someone would immediately recognize the message as one that they had already dealt with, and have the specific method of dealing with it, rather than having to trouble shoot so many areas of the computer that I don't know about. I have already exhausted several hours and created some other problems, but may be able to deal with them myself. Thank you.

Googling around it appears that this error string is generated by Hewlett Packard related software. Do you by chance have an HP printer or scanner or such attached to the affected computer?

When the computer starts up does it go directly into your account or do you need to log in?

Is the window the standard Windows alert type window (matching your theme) or does it look like it's from a different vendor?

Attach a screen shot of what you have set up in your MSConfig and we'll see which ones you can turn off and/or remove "forever". While you are at it, attaching a screen shot of the error window to your next post may help.

If you don't know how to do a screen shot (I am not trying to sound insulting here, really):

1) To take a screen shot of the entire viewable screen press Print Screen (sometimes also appears with SysRq) above the arrow keys or number pad on standard keyboards.

Or

2) To take a screen shot of one active window (the error window) left-click on the header bar for the window. Then press Alt-Print Screen.

Note: Either method from 1) or 2) above will place the image on the clipboard, but you should do them one at a time unless you are familiar with the clipboard tool.

3) Open Paint (Start, Run..., type "pbrush", Enter)

4) Paste (Ctrl-V or Edit>paste) into Paint

5) Save the image as a .jpg (to save space/upload time)

6) When you post to CR4 attach the images using the camera icon in the icon bar of the text window.

7) A picture is often worth a thousand words.

Now I think we are getting somewhere!!!!

I do not have to log in, or use a password.

The window may have a different theme. I will let you know when I get back to it.

I do have an HP printer Scanner and an HP Laser printer, as well as two others installed but not connected. I usually do not get them mixed up.

I am thrilled that you explained how to do a screen shot. I have wondered about that for several years and could not figure it out. Thank you for that too. I am learning!!!

This weekend I will be back at the computer in question and will get those screen shots and get them posted.

I am thrilled at the idea of finding out what I can turn off or delete. I like to learn, but not always the hard way.

Thank you so much, for now.

Seems to me if you have other PC's that don't do it, you could note what they have on their start lists and use that to find the 'odd man out' on the troublesome one.

The fact that you have HP software loaded but do not have the devices connected may very well be where your problem lies. A number of printers and scanners have "assist" software that prepare a pre-run environment which makes it quicker to launch the actual application when you want to. You may see the icon for this in the task tray (right side of the task bar). If the software does not see the device which it is attempting to load the software for then that may generate an error.

It's kind of like the Windows Prefetch but more-so on the manufacturer's behalf. You may be able to disable the pre-run environment in a dialog box in the HP software, or just force it using msconfig or registry changes. We'll see.

Agree - I've had PC's just sieze up while booting because an HP printer's USB cable has been unplugged.

IMOH, HP printer software is the biggest bunch of cr4p I've ever met, and I wouldn't touch it again with a barge-pole.

my experience is the the HP printer drivers are fine

the HP solution center on the other hand is the worst kind of bloatware

I was just doing a tune up on a 07 vista notebook 1.3ghz [no rocket ship] after uninstalling everything HP except the basic printer driver shaved more than a minute off the boot time

here's a good tool for removing stubborn programs

http://pcdecrapifier.com/download

Another way to get a screen shot is to just take a photo of your screen.

I have been sick over the weekend.

I have uninstalled all printers not plugged in. Only 2 left.

Here is a screen print of the unwanted box.

This also was a first, to get the screenshot posted. Wow.

I am not sure which tab to click on in MSConfig. (Services or Startup). Would (Processes) in Windows Task Manager, be of value.

I have to leave now but I will get the unwanted box enclosed in this post. Does anyone recognize it???

Learned something again today!!!

Yes, that is just standard Windows...not 3^rd party driven.

I cannot get msconfig screen shots from work (locks that feature out). I will try to remember to do this from home tonight (PST).

It's really not that hard. I'll walk you through it.