Lysserd said:
Whenever I start my computer I get two identical error messages:
Runtime Error!
Program C:\Windows\System32\Rundll32.exe
This application has requested the Runtime to teminate it in an unusual
way. Please contact the application's support team for more information
I also get a similar error message when right-clicking on the desktop,
except it says:
Program: C:\Windows\explorer.exe
The rest of the message is the same.
I've run many spyware checks, system scans, and other programs and read a
lot of articles in forums but nothing has proved helpful. Any help would
be appreciated.
It seems that something you've installed is set to start with Windows and is
failing. In addition, it is something that when you first installed it
shoved itself into the right-click context menu. So I would manage your
Startup with the System Configuration Utility to begin with. If that isn't
enough, then do a clean boot and add things back one at a time until you
find the culprit. Then you can get rid of it or reinstall it, depending on
what it is and whether you want to keep it.
A. Manage Startup
Start Orb>Start Search box>msconfig [enter]
If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation,
type the password, or click Continue. Then see what is on the Startup tab.
You don't need to restart immediately, but the next time you do you'll get
a dialog saying you've used the Utility. Usually in Vista this will be
blocked by Windows Defender and you'll need to allow it so you can then
tick the box that says in effect, "don't bother me about this again".
Important - Do not use the System Configuration Utility to stop processes.
Instead, use Start>Run>services.msc [enter] and do not stop any services
unless you really, really know what you're doing.
The free Autoruns program is very useful for managing your Startup -
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx - Autoruns
How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;929135
B. Right-click context menu
For the right-click context menu, uninstalling the Mystery Culprit may take
care of it, but personally I find that having as few third-party extras in
the context menu as possible is A Good Thing. You can easily manage them
with the free ShellExView program.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html
Manage the context-menu entries for folders, drives and Namespace objects -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/context_folders.htm
Malke