Startup folder keeps starting up

[Planefreak]

Not sure how it happened but I've got a Startup folder inside of the actual startup folder, so now it starts every time Windows 7 boots.

I tried the usual and deleted it from the startup folder, but after I delete it reloads itself into the startup folder and it opens the following boot.

I tried using Autoruns to remove the registry key and tried using the built in windows 7 maintenance tool and it said it fixed it but it has not.

Anyone ever heard of this or seen it? Its really irritating

[GaryRouth]

Quick-fix try: reboot your computer, and right-click on the "Startup" folder that keeps appearing on your desktop. Then select "Properties" and then "Location" -- if you are offered an option to "Restore Default", choose it. This should fix the problem if one of your Startup folders location has been accidently changed.

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Or, you might see if your extra folder exists in a location you might not have looked at yet. Check both the Startup folder in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and in C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

[where "C" is your system partition and "username" is your User name]

I imagine you've already looked at the Registry keys:
HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
and
HKEY_Users\user-string\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

(You'd check under each "user-string" in the Users list [starts with Default, then something like S-1-5-18, etc.])
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Or, if you've only had the problem for a few days - you could try using System Restore, selecting a date from before the Startup folder genie started popping out of its bottle.
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If none of that works, you might want to run a malware scan in case this is a strange byproduct of an exploit, and/or perhaps a run of CCleaner, in case some orphan entry oddity is causing its mayhem from down in an obscure Registry entry.

Best of luck,
. . . Gary

[birddog_61]

This wont get rid of the folder but it will stop it from running.
Go to the start menu
type msconfig in the search bar and open it
click the startup tab
find your folder and deselect it
restart

[Planefreak]

I finally got some time to look at it and had no luck.

I tired restoring the startup folder, deleting the folder, changing the startup options, registry...

I think the problem is that the some part of windows is restoring the folder because after each boot the folder is recreated with the current time and date.

Any more ideas?

[GaryRouth]

Did you have a chance to try right-clicking the folder, going to "Properties", then "Location", and then selecting "Restore Default"? (You might want to try this for both Startup folders - the 'normal' one, and the 'extra' one).

If you haven't tried that yet, give it a go. It will fix things if the All Users (as it was called in previous versions of Windows) profile is the one with the wayward location.

And it shouldn't hurt to try a System Restore, using a restore point from before the extra Startup folder started showing up on your desktop at startup.

See how it goes
. . . Gary

[Planefreak]

I tried all the solutions listed but couldn't come up with anything that worked. I finally found something that seems to work.

I opened both sets of startup folders,

C:\Users\Username\AppData... and
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft...

from there I reset all the permissions on these folders to deny creating anything new. This seems to have worked.