"ghost" image of unknown program pops up occasionally on boot up?

B

bj33813

Member
I have checked msconfig and the only programs there under the startup tab work just fine. I looked at the start/all programs/startup folder and its empty. This unknown shell of some program (just a blue box image) used to pop up very seldomly on boot up, but now seems to pop up every 3 or 4 days and the image now stays there for several minutes whereas it used to disappear after 3 or 4 seconds. How can I trace it to delete it? Done all the virus scans etc.
View attachment 27589
 

My Computer

System One

You could try this method of finding where the program file is located. Download Home Folder from this page

Put a shortcut to Home Folder in your startup so it will be in the tray after Windows starts. If the mystery window displays, click on it to give it the focus. Press hotkeys Shift-NumPadSubtract (hold down a shift key while pressing the minus key on the number pad.) If it can, Home Folder will get the location of the exe file that owns the window. This should at least give a clue what it is and where it is.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G 2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
Here's a more direct way. Home Folder assumes you know the program and just want to open the folder where it's located. It doesn't tell you the actual exe name. This program, WinOwn just shows a message box with the owner of the active window when you press Shift-NumPadAdd (hover the mouse on the tray icon if you forget the hotkey)

For example if you click on EditPadLite7 editor to make it the active window and then press Shift-NumPadAdd while WinOwn is running in the tray, it should display something like

"C:\Program Files\JGsoft\EditPadLite\EditPadLite7.exe"

giving you the complete path to the exe. If the window will not take the keyboard focus, then it probably won't work.

View attachment 27590
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G 2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
MilesAhead said:
Here's a more direct way. Home Folder assumes you know the program and just want to open the folder where it's located. It doesn't tell you the actual exe name. This program, WinOwn just shows a message box with the owner of the active window when you press Shift-NumPadAdd (hover the mouse on the tray icon if you forget the hotkey)

For example if you click on EditPadLite7 editor to make it the active window and then press Shift-NumPadAdd while WinOwn is running in the tray, it should display something like

"C:\Program Files\JGsoft\EditPadLite\EditPadLite7.exe"

giving you the complete path to the exe. If the window will not take the keyboard focus, then it probably won't work.

View attachment 27590
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will give it a try.:cool:
 

My Computer

System One

I must be doing something wrong. I added both programs to the tray, and this am the image popped up on the screen at boot up again, and I clicked on the image and then both icons in the tray as well as hit shift numlock+ as per the readme in WinOwn, but the window which opened said windows\system32\notepad.exe . I checked the folder I have the programs in on desktop, and found this marked as "folderCache - notepad"
C:\Users\Bob\Desktop\cartoons
D:\Documents\Health
D:\Documents
D:\Documents\HOA
D:\Documents\real estate
D:\Pictures\lk harris pix
D:\Pictures
C:\Users\Bob\Desktop\FolderCache
D:\Documents\tools
D:\Documents\PC
C:\Program Files
C:\
D:\Music
D:\Documents\tv
D:\Documents\auto
C:\Program Files\CCleaner
D:\
D:\nwwia
D:\$RECYCLE.BIN
D:\Documents\PC\User Folders\Pictures
D:\Documents\PC\User Folders
F:\
F:\Documents
F:\Documents\tv

which are essentially folders I had opened yesterday, but the date on the foldercache - notepad was the boot up time from this am?
Can you hold my hand & tell me what I did wrong & what I need to do next time to capture anything useful? Or should I use only ONE of those 2 programs?
Thanks

PS I did check windows\system32 and ran across a log folder which had a sub folder in it with todays date & approx boot up time. It held 6 files marked as scm.evm , one of which which was from today, but an online search to open them came up empty.
 
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My Computer

System One

You just need to have WinOwn running in the tray. Make sure FolderCache is not running. It uses the same hotkey. I just hard wired the hotkey to do the program quickly.

With WinOwn and no FolderCache running, click the phantom window. If it takes the focus, you should get a drop shadow. Hit Shift-NumPadPlus. The folder where the exe is should open. If the phantom window does not take the keyboard focus, it won't work. It goes by the exe that owns the active window(has the focus.)

If it's just something that's displayed "in the desktop" then my utility won't work. Sorry. I don't know any other way accept look through Task Manger and see if there's a way to display the window owned by each program.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G 2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
****** Note ****** the quickest thing to try. When the phantom window shows, click on it. If it will not take the keyboard focus then my programs won't work on it anyway. It has to be the active window to detect the exe that owns it.

Note2: since you are running home basic I suspect this window is trying to use Glass without checking it's enabled on the system. That may be why no text is displayed. I don't think you'll have much luck other than tracking down all start-up programs and weeding them out. But see if it takes the focus as I suggested above.
 
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My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G 2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
OK, found the culprit but not sure why its doing it. It is the window for MS Security Essentials. Did an uninstall & then reinstall. Hope that solves it.

Thx for the help.
 

My Computer

System One

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