"Windows cannot find 'C:\Program..." error message on Windows XP

[john319]

I get the below message when I boot up. It appears after Windows XP's Welcome
screen.

"Windows cannot find 'C:\Program.' Make sure you typed the name correctly,
and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button and then
click Search."

There is an OK button below this message. I have to click the OK button
twice before the message disappears and my desktop appears. Also, booting up
is real slow since this message started a couple of days ago.

What is causing this and how do I get rid of this message? Thanks!

 

[Jim]

I get the below message when I boot up. It appears after Windows XP's Welcome
screen.

"Windows cannot find 'C:\Program.' Make sure you typed the name correctly,
and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button and then
click Search."

There is an OK button below this message. I have to click the OK button
twice before the message disappears and my desktop appears. Also, booting up
is real slow since this message started a couple of days ago.

What is causing this and how do I get rid of this message? Thanks!

Quick way ; system restore to when it was ok , if that doesn`t work ,
you may have some nasties .

 

[Elmo]

I get the below message when I boot up. It appears after Windows XP's Welcome
screen.

"Windows cannot find 'C:\Program.' Make sure you typed the name correctly,
and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button and then
click Search."

There is an OK button below this message. I have to click the OK button
twice before the message disappears and my desktop appears. Also, booting up
is real slow since this message started a couple of days ago.

What is causing this and how do I get rid of this message? Thanks!

Here's a scenario that explains what happened: You just installed a new
program, or maybe Windows Update installed it. An entry was added to
the registry to run the program at Startup. But the entry wasn't
entered correctly; there were no quotes placed around path to the file.
The registry entry looks something like this:

C:\Program Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SUPERAntiSpyware.exe

So, when this program starts to load, Windows sees "C:\Program" followed
by what it misinterprets as a "switch":
"Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SUPERAntiSpyware.exe". The space was "seen" as
the end of the path, and Windows tried to run Program, which it couldn't
locate in the root, C:\ (This didn't have to happen in the registry; it
could have happened in the Start Menu's Startup folder.)

The easiest answer is to remove the program, then reinstall. A more
involved solution is to run MSConfig and look in its Startup tab for
this situation, study where it's located, and use Regedit or whatever is
necessary, depending on its location, to modify the entry. An example
of how you would modify would be this fictitious situation:

C:\Program Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SUPERAntiSpyware.exe /n

modified to read:

"C:\Program Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SUPERAntiSpyware.exe" /n

The switch was not part of the path and needed to be outside of the quotes.

A Google Search for other suggestions:
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source...\Program"&aq=f&aqi=g1&oq=&fp=b03f3b2a1b734003