# MS-DOS Finished-WIN box: Help me kill it **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 26, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-finished-win-box-help-me-kill-it/177601 "2003-05-26T17:24:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-finished-win-box-help-me-kill-it/177601/1 "2003-05-26T17:24:57Z")
Recently, whenever I reboot or even just sign on to my desktop, an annoying box pops up, With the heading above, and saying: You are already running Windows etc etc. Its an annoyance, nothing more. It closes. But I’d prefer it didn’t show up at all. Any advice on how to kill it? I don’t know why it started popping up, but I did discover the “Backdoor Assasin” (sic) virus on my last scan, and had to quarantine it. I’m running windows 98. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![badmana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-finished-win-box-help-me-kill-it/177601/2 "2003-05-26T18:18:40Z")
Run ‘msconfig’ and scan through all the start up programs that are trying to run. It won’t give you all the info you need, but if you uncheck a few boxes of things you can’t figure out and try a few reboots, you might be able to stop whatever it trying to run in your back ground. Obviously check your “startup” folder as well. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-finished-win-box-help-me-kill-it/177601/3 "2003-05-26T18:47:23Z")
You may also want to try Method 3 from [this](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;187524) KB article to restore your original config.sys and autoexec.bat files. > [@](#): > > **Method 3** > Restore your orignal Config.sys and Autoexec.bat files. To do so, follow these steps: > > 1. Restart your computer. Press and hold down the CTRL key until you see the Windows 98 Startup menu. > > 2. Choose Safe Mode Command Prompt Only from the Startup menu. > > 3. At the command prompt, type the following lines, pressing ENTER after each line: > > **ren config.sys config.app > ren config.wos config.sys > ren autoexec.bat autoexec.app > ren autoexec.wos autoexec.bat > Restart your computer.** ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-finished-win-box-help-me-kill-it/177601/4 "2003-05-26T18:49:51Z")
Interesting problem. It seems Windows is told to start twice. Is there any commant in your autoexec.bat file telling it to start? There shouldn’t be. As a general rule, programs can be started at startup from: 1. Autoexec.bat WIN.INI on the load= and run= lines. 2. STARTUP folder. 3. REGISTRY HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce Drivers (VXDs) can also be loaded at startup time from: 1. SYSTEM.INI the [386enh] section. 2. REGISTRY HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VMM32Files HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\services\VxD ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-finished-win-box-help-me-kill-it/177601/5 "2003-05-26T19:08:24Z")
**badmana** , nothing in the startup folder, and I’ve only tried turning off a few things in msconfig, but still no change. **Number** , my computer can’t find the config.wos file **sailor** , I don’t see any command in my autoexec.bat file telling windows to start. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-finished-win-box-help-me-kill-it/177601/6 "2003-05-26T19:26:35Z")
Use Regedit and check the keys **sailor** mentioned, specifically, HKEY\_LOCAL\_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and HKEY\_CURRENT\_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and HKEY\_USERS\DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-finished-win-box-help-me-kill-it/177601/7 "2003-05-26T20:15:57Z")
I have never seen this before and I am scratching my head thinking what may be the cause. You say it is not serious, just a nuisance. I have lived with different little things like this every time I have reinstalled windows. Who knows. It will probably disappear next time you reinstall windows. . . and something else will start. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-finished-win-box-help-me-kill-it/177601/8 "2003-05-26T20:21:07Z")
**sailor** , it is just a nuisance, and if past experience is any guide, if I try to hard to fix it, then I’ll really screw things up! Thanks all for the tips. But I think I’ll let well enough alone. It only adds about 2 seconds to my routine. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-dos-finished-win-box-help-me-kill-it/177601/9 "2003-05-26T20:48:48Z")
I am looking in MSCONFIG and I see you can select a diagnostic startup and a selective startup. You can try that and it will go line by line and will probably identify the line of code. By looking in mine I just realised I have it in “selective startup” and I have no idea why. I must have forgot to pur it back to normal after some test. I will now put it back to normal and mess something up