Duplicate entries

Yes, I viewed previous topics with a similar subject, but the posters didn't have quite the same problem as me, and there were no solutions given anyway :)

Autoruns is great. However, on every system I've used it on (XP, Vista, 7), I've ended up with several items under "Logon" that get duplicated (exact same info). Some of them under CurrentVersion/Run, some under Start Menu/Programs/Startup. If I look at the actual Start Menu or registry, there are no duplicates.

Sometimes this occurs when I disable an item -- it shows up later as a duplicate that is re-enabled. But some of the dups just seem to happen by themselves.

If I delete one of the duplicates, then the next time Autoruns runs, both items are gone

As I say, this happens on every system I run Autoruns. I would think this is a known issue, with either a fix, a workaround, or acknowledgement that it's just the way things are!

Screeny provided as a PNG in a ZIP:

uploads/28174/Autoruns-dup.zip

The cause of the problem and the solution are given below (in my case after this fix the startup list works correctly and appears correctly in msconfig, but not yet in autoruns).

 

RE: Programs load twice from startup folder

This is an issue related to the way that the registry works that has plagued me since XP and it HAS NOT YET been fixed on Vista. It normally happens when the sole-user of a PC tries to merge the content of his User-specific Start Menu Programs folder (C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Start Menu\Programs) with the content of the All-users Start Menu Programs folder (C:\Documents and Settings\ALL USERS\Start Menu\Programs), for the sake of manageability. I have googled a solution to this back then, and the good news is that it is totally applicable for Vista too:

http://www.somacon.com/p398.php

Please note that the article was written for XP, so if you want it to work on Vista please consider "C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Start Menu\Programs" as "C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"

Hope that helps.

 

Prevent Startup Programs from Running Twice in Windows XP

A way to solve the problem of programs in the Startup folder being executed twice on Windows XP logon. The applications may appear doubled in msconfig.

Problem

Under Windows XP, programs placed in the Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder may be running twice. This occurs even though only one shortcut or icon for each program appears in the Startup folder when viewed through Windows Explorer. When you use msconfig (Startup tab) or autoruns (Logon tab) to inspect the Startup listings, they appear twice. Unchecking one or both disables the program from running at all.

Cause

This situation can occur if the user-specific Startup folder is deleted from the user's profile. When that happens, Windows looks for user-specific startup programs in the All Users startup folder instead. This causes doubling, because the programs from the All Users startup folder are executed once for All Users and again for the current user.

Solution

First, recreate the Start Menu folders in your profile directory, while logged in as the user experiencing the problem. Open Windows Explorer and browse to c:\Documents and Settings\USER\Start Menu. You can also type %USERPROFILE% in the address bar, and then open the Start Menu folder. Under the Start Menu folder, create a folder called Programs. Under Programs, create folders for Administrative Tools and Startup.

Now that the folders are recreated, you need to edit the registry so that Windows know where the user-specific Startup folder is located. Run regedit from the Start→Run... menu.

Open the following branch:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
Under this branch, you may find some folders being listed under %ALLUSERSPROFILE%. These need to be changed to the %USERPROFILE% directory. Below you can see the resulting values of the keys that may need changing.

• Programs - %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs
• Start Menu - %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu
• Startup - %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

You do not need to edit the related values under the Explorer\Shell Folders branch, because the above settings will take precedence. You may want to check it anyway, just to be sure you didn't miss any folders, like Administrative Tools. After these changes are done, you may need to reboot to see the changes.

Run msconfig or autoruns and the doubled programs should be gone.

Notes

If you are uncomfortable editing the registry, you can use the Tweak UI Windows XP Power Toy. Run Tweak UI and then open the My Computer→Special Folders pane. Select the folders and set their paths as described above.

Some programs are supposed to have two Startup entries. This article only applies to Startup programs in your Start Menu, and when they are all doubled. This is probably a rare problem.

Links

• How to Move Shell Folders (and contents)
• Finding Shell Folders in the Registry

Link to this page: <a href="http://www.somacon.com/p398.php">Prevent Startup Programs from Running Twice in Windows XP</a>

Edited by RGB - 17 April 2009 at 3:44am

Hi Molotov,

Hi Molotov,

Edited by RGB - 17 April 2009 at 5:12am

In Vista (at least in Vista Business 32) Autoruns looks for startup programs in the registry under the Explorer\Shell Folders branch whereas msconfig looks under Explorer\User Shell Folders.