Excel loading on start up

[Guest]

Recently, when I open Windows (XP SP2) I get a message saying "Microsoft
Excel has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the
inconvenience."
After this Excel starts up and recommends I start in safe mode.
Note that I have not attempted to open Excel at this stage.
I have checked my Start Up folder - Excel is not there.
Does anyone know how I can stop Excel loading automatically. and perhaps why
this is happening? Could it be some virus in the machine?
Note that when I start Excel manually there is no problem.

 

[Dave Peterson]

Chip Pearson has some notes on how to diagnose startup errors:
http://www.cpearson.com/excel/StartupErrors.htm

And Jan Karel Pieterse has more notes:
http://www.jkp-ads.com/Articles/StartupProblems.asp

I'd try the toolbar tips first.