RUNDLL32.EXE running in the background causing problems.

[Lesa H.]

I have a client that is having an issue with QuickBooks. When he tries to
open a company file, the file never opens. We determined through trial and
error that the process RUNDLL32.exe is causing the problem. The process
starts when he reboots or logs off/on to his system. I know this is a helper
program for other items. Is there a way to determine what program is calling
this file and make it stop? I have checked the startup and run registry
entries, but have been unable to locate the source of the issue. If I could
identify which program is calling the RUNDLL32.exe process, I might be able
to get somewhere.

The system is clean of virus and spyware. We also tried disabling all
startup items and rebooting to no avail.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Lesa H.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Lesa,

Use a third-party Process viewer (such as Process Explorer) or use the
in-built WMI tool

List all processes and their Command-line parameters:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/listproc.htm
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/rundll32.htm

 

[Lesa H.]

Thanks Ramesh,

I'll check these out and see what I can find and report back.

Lesa