Solved Explorer error on startup?

Hi all

I have a weird thing on startup
I get a small blank explorer.exe dialogue that until you click OK (by mouse click or enter on the keyboard), none of my startup programs run i.e Logitech G-hub, Sandboxie etc.
Once OK'd, I hear a notification sound, and they run as normal.
Its only started in the last few days, and I must admit to doing a bit of, 'cleaning up' of old empty folders, unrecognised recently created folder, a couple of which were in the ProgramData folder (stupid I know!) and emptied the Recycle Bin!

I've tried SFC/ Scannow, which revealed and fixed a few corrupt files, non of them where where I was poking around.
I had Windowblinds 11, and Start11 installed, but (after reading elsewhere here) uninstalled and cleaned using Revo uninstaller.

Looking at the reliability history doesn't show any apparent errors

This is what I see after the log in screen, which is a local account. I haven't set it up under any Microsoft accounts




Any clues to a fix?

The computer so far appears to run normally, other than the annoying startup.

Thanks for any advice

After messing with Windows so much, by customising it with various utilities and then using Revo to remove them, you really don't know what has been tweaked and modified and left behind.

Revo is excellent at uninstalling programs, but it cannot remove registry entries that have been tweaked and clearly, you have some of those.

Personally, I would do a repair install, click the link below:
The repair install should not remove your apps etc. but it should give you a good base to build on.

There are things I do not like about Windows 11, like the context menu and Quick Access to name a few, but I can remove or tweak them using simple registry edits, edits that can easily be reversed without any fear of upsetting the rest of the system.

HTH

Launch task manager via ctrl+shift+esc when that opens and see what all is running at that moment. End one process at a time to see which one closes that dialog box

Find out which process that error dialog box belong to, i don't believe that error message belongs to File Explorer.

In this video, i will show you how to use Process Explorer to identify windows or message boxes that appear without any obvious indicator of what program they're from.

Spuggy said:

Any clues to a fix?

Click to expand...

This might help, it will reset system startup entries to default. Run CMD as admin and copy/paste:

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I think I'll try them in least disruptive order as I see them and if all else fails I'll do a repair install as @trumpy81 suggests.

Just to be clear, I got the error before running SCF Scannow and removing Windowblinds/Start 11, so the damage was done regardless of Revo uninstalling things.
It was just a suggestion I'd found elsewhere within these forums in case I'd removed something one of them needed to start.

Quick update

I tried both @FreeBooter and @dacrone suggestions, but they point to explorer.exe
Also tried @TairikuOkami suggestion but this didn't fix it either

I'll do the repair install and hope that works, but if all else fails I'll do a clean install from scratch and learn my lesson not to mess with things.

Cheers

Revo Uninstaller removes Registry settings if you do the Advanced Method.
If you haven't done the Repair Install yet, Start a Command Prompt as Admin and type the following Bold Commands pressing Enter after.
DISM /Online /CLEANUP-IMAGE /CheckHealth

DISM /Online /CLEANUP-IMAGE /RestoreHealth
After that finishes, type

SFC /scannow again and press Enter. If it says there are no Violations, then restart the computer. See if that works

You can also download Autoruns for Windows - Sysinternals to see what is starting with Windows that could be causing it.

@Spunk Tried your first bit of code and everything was healthy, but I did the second anyway and then SFC /scannow and it was clean.
Rebooted and...........still got the error.

I'd downloaded Autoruns prior to rebooting and it pointed to an entry in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\Run
C:\Users\MYUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Paradingly48\Gevaldiges.exe.....................................File not found

I remember that this was one of the folders I'd deleted during the cleanup as I didn't recognise it

Deleting the entry from the registry has cured the issue, so Windows boots without error.

But worryingly found this

Gonna do some housework!!!

Thanks for the help

I don't think this is a Virus, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to scan with ADWCleaner followed by Malwarebytes

If you are still having problems, then you can search the Registry for Gevaldiges.exe and delete any of those entries. After backing up the Registry before attempting.

Good call, fortunately both were clear.
I've added 2 factor authentication to my most used shopping channels just in case.

Probably had a lucky escape

Autoruns shows these items in yellow.
Probably not relevant to the fixed issue, but can I ignore them?
Or should I delete them from the registry

A bit of Googling reveals that they can be ignored, something to do with autoruns being a 32bit application looking in 64 bit locations and it gets redirected.