How do I make the "C:\Program Files\Microsoft" folder NOT open up on startup?

Question

I've seen explanations for how to handle this problem, and not one of them has made any sense to me so far. Answers include comments about editing entries in "the registry" or uninstalling and reinstalling things I don't have... nothing helpful at all.

Doesn't anybody understand this problem? Is it actually different for every individual computer?

Answer 1

From what I know about this problem, it seems to be caused by the installation of some additional software that creates a false pointer to the path you mentioned above. The path C:\Program Files\Microsoft is not a default path.

My advice would be to download Autoruns from Microsoft and check the entries under:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

This is one of the locations that auto-start programs store their entries. Take a look at the entries listed there and and one by one uncheck the box to the left and restart; try to establish if it's one of these entries that's responsible. Once you know which are responsible, you can re-enable the others.

I wouldn't simply advise leaving the responsible entry unchecked, without doing some research on exactly what it's responsible for. It may be important...