blank application appears in taskbar

[Guest]

a blank application appears at random times in the taskbar. The application
has no name and just a plain window icon. It appears for only a second in
the taskbar then disappears. the only time I can consistently see it is
after rebooting the machine it always appears. when it appears at random
times I cannot identify it. I have recently completely formatted hard drive
and reinstalled XP. Tried Spy Sweeper and Spybot with no problems reported.
What is this mystery application and how can I log computers booting up to
see what it is.

 

[Malke]

a blank application appears at random times in the taskbar. The
application
has no name and just a plain window icon. It appears for only a
second in
the taskbar then disappears. the only time I can consistently see it
is
after rebooting the machine it always appears. when it appears at
random
times I cannot identify it. I have recently completely formatted hard
drive
and reinstalled XP. Tried Spy Sweeper and Spybot with no problems
reported. What is this mystery application and how can I log computers
booting up to see what it is.

Try clean-boot troubleshooting:

Clean Boot - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=310353
and How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

Malke

 

[Plato]

a blank application appears at random times in the taskbar. The application
has no name and just a plain window icon. It appears for only a second in
the taskbar then disappears. the only time I can consistently see it is
after rebooting the machine it always appears. when it appears at random
times I cannot identify it. I have recently completely formatted hard drive
and reinstalled XP. Tried Spy Sweeper and Spybot with no problems reported.
What is this mystery application and how can I log computers booting up to
see what it is.

My guess is that when you reinstalled XP you also reinstalled the
program that is creating the blanks. Generally, this is not
spyware/malware, but some free utility or small free application that
just has some bugs. I test lots of software, and that happens with some
programs. I'ts basically just an annoyance. You just have to find the
app you have running 24/7 that is causing it.