# Windows XP - a folder keeps coming up at boot

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-a-folder-keeps-coming-up-at-boot/185864>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 2, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-a-folder-keeps-coming-up-at-boot/185864 "2003-07-02T20:49:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ForumBot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee59a6/32.png) [@ForumBot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForumBot)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-a-folder-keeps-coming-up-at-boot/185864/1 "2003-07-02T20:49:21Z")

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For some reason, a folder keeps coming up automatically every time I boot windows.

I don’t exactly like this obtrustion, and want to get rid of it. Msconfig\Startup doesn’t do any good, as it only deals with .exe files.

So how do I stop it from coming up every boot?

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-a-folder-keeps-coming-up-at-boot/185864/2 "2003-07-02T21:43:35Z")

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What version of windows?

[download.com](http://download.com) has programs of all kinds to deal with folders & desktops.

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**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-a-folder-keeps-coming-up-at-boot/185864/3 "2003-07-02T22:45:26Z")

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**handy** - he said Windows XP in the OP.

This article may help though I’m sure you’ve tried simply closing the window and rebooting: [http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article05-016](http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article05-016)

Which folder is being displayed? Did you check all the possible startup places in msconfig?

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**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-a-folder-keeps-coming-up-at-boot/185864/4 "2003-07-03T00:56:36Z")

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**DarrenS** offers a good link.

You could also try: In Windows Explorer, go to Tools/Folder Options/View/Restore previous folder windows on logon. Set this off.

If that doesn’t help, check the registry and Start Up folder for items loaded at start up.

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**Author:** ![peterW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bb73d2/32.png) [@peterW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peterW)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-a-folder-keeps-coming-up-at-boot/185864/5 "2003-07-03T03:06:48Z")

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Did you recently install RealPlayer? I remember a folder (I think it was called “bin”) kept popping up at startup after I installed the RealPlayer application.

If it isn’t that, then you may want to check your “Startup” folder, but I assume you’ve already done that.

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**Author:** ![Read\_Neck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Read\_Neck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Read_Neck)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-xp-a-folder-keeps-coming-up-at-boot/185864/6 "2003-07-03T04:54:59Z")

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[http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml](http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml)

Check this out. I couldn’t do without it.