WMPlayer.exe process at startup

[rhenson]

I've spent a long time trying to figure out why windows media player quit
working some time back. I finally found the problem - something is kicking
off a wmplayer.exe process at startup. Once I kill this process media player
starts witout issue. I've combed the internet and seem to come up with a
virus or spyware that has replaced my actual wmplayer.exe with a hack. I
can't find any information on how to repair this or download a clean install
for Vista Premium 32 bit. Can anyone help with this? Or is this a different
issue all together?
Thanks!

 

[Randy]

if your current account is infected by virus, you can try create a new
account, maybe in a new account, WMP is good.

 

[zachd [MSFT]]

If you use Process Explorer, you should be able to see what command line the
player was run with. What command line was it run with?

The only virus that runs WMP at start-up I'm aware of was CoolWebSearch
variant 26 (or it may have been 36?). The WMP aspect of that could easily be
fixed by running msconfig and making sure WMP wasn't in the started up
applications.

Are there devices connected to this system? What devices?
What are you intentionally running at startup?