# Solved: Blank startup program in msconfig



## seidnerm (Feb 11, 2004)

I noticed that this problem was addressed by several members in different categories of this forum and many were not solved. I wanted to share my success story of solving this problem.

I had this blank entry for at least 2 years and couldn't get rid of it and all my registry cleaning programs didn't seem to notice it. I used msinfo program to see what programs were running and saw the blank program and noticed that it was load from the HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Run key in the registry. I looked in the registry and there was no blank entry there but the "default" key in the right column had 2 quotation marks as the value of the default key that should say [value not set]. This led me to believe that this entry of the registry had been tampered with sometime in the past and regedit will usually not let you edit the default value.

I found that when I went to msconfig and unchecked the blank program in the startup list; then the default value in the HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Run path was reset to [value not set] but the default value in the HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Run- path was changed to "" (2 quotes)

I went back to msconfig and put a check in all the boxes in the startup list except for the blank program and closed msconfig but did not restart.

I ran regedit, navigated to HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Run- and saw that there was nothing in the right pane except the default key with the null value. I then deleted the "Run-" key from the left column and closed regedit. When I reopened msconfig's startup list...voila!... the blank entry was gone. I cleared the boxes of the programs that I did not want running at startup and closed msconfig without restarting. I rechecked the registry entries and the HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Run- path had been re-created without the faulty default value. I then restarted the computer and everything was just fine and dandy. :up:

I hope this can help others out there. Just check for the default key that does not say [value not set]


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## columbo (Sep 10, 2001)

Good job :up:


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## bicycle bill (Jul 11, 2003)

Good job i suppose but my question is what harm is there with a blank item in Msconfig? I have had one for some time now and cannot see that it is causing a problem.


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## seidnerm (Feb 11, 2004)

Probably not harming anything except that was a sign of a registry problem. You never know what a bad registry entry can turn in to later. I have learned that slight changes in computer behavior can be an indication of a deeper OS problem.
It is just hard for me to ignore something that isn't as it should be.


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## bicycle bill (Jul 11, 2003)

Understood. Hope i do not have a problem because i know i do not have the expertise to go through the procedure that you executed.


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