win xp c:\documents folder opens on startup

Question

XP SP3

Using XP on this box for legacy product maintenance/testing, in case you are wondering. ;)

On startup after everything else loads then about an additional 60 sec windows explorer opens the "c:\documents" folder (not c:\document and settings, just c:\documents).

In the folder the are 4 other folders: catalogs, content, manifests, and VS_100_en-us. There are sub-sub-folders as well and from the minimal content (xml files mostly) it seems to be related to Microsoft Help and Crystal Reports for VS Help files.

What I have done:

1. av and malware scans
2. msconfig - disabled all unknown startups
3. autoruns - disabled all "file not found entries", inspected all others
4. regedit - searched for c:\documents (not found)
5. regedit - searched for microsoft help (found but seemingly not related)
6. regedit - checked userint key (based on a google search)
7. regedit - checked shell key (based on a google search)
8. windows explorer - ensured restore previous folders was not selected
9. start->all programs->startup - clear
10. other stuff I can't remember

I renamed c:\documents to c:\xdocuments and re-booted thinking whatever program was opening it would complain, then I could use sysinternals process explorer to ID the suspect but I get no message and the folder does not open anymore - So I could just get on with my life, but the culprit is still there...and it just bugs me that it is.

Any Ideas on how to track this down?

Answer 1

I would normally counsel Process Monitor, except that the latest version 3.33 only works with Windows Vista and higher.

Nevertheless, Process Monitor version 3.1 from March 2014 is said to work on Windows XP SP2 and higher, and can be downloaded from the Wayback Machine.

For using Process Monitor, see the How-To Geek article Understanding Process Monitor.