You can right-click these items and select either Properties or Open File Location for more information. But no, there are no 'Program' items displayed by default.

I have disabled the two items in 'Start-up' and rebooted Windows 8. They remain listed in 'Start-up' but still show as 'disabled' without creating duplicates that are 'enabled'.

I have uninstalled several programs but the 'Program' items still remain in Task Manager Start-up. I have also performed scans with Malwarebytes and Windows Defender both gave the PC a clean bill of health.

Another forum advised me to perform a 'sfc/scannow' from the command prompt. This did find some corrupt system files which it repaired. However, the 'Program' items in Task Manager Start-up still remain.

Has anyone seen this before?

Le_Blur.  I too have one entry in my Task Manager called Program - exactly as you describe.  I just spent about an hour trying to revive my Brand New Windows 8 computer from freezing at the Metro Screen.  I went through and disabled all the services and Startup items as well as many other troubleshooting items to finally get it back to 'normal'.  This one item I have NOT enabled since I am unsure as to what it is for, and I think I am going to refuse to enable it.

I hate the 'unknown' entries!

Right-click on them and choose Properties.  What do they point to?

Right-click on them and choose Properties.  What do they point to?

 

My system is presently 'dual boot' with Vista Pro and Windows 8 Pro. I plan to do a complete re-install of Windows 8 in the near future and discard Vista altogether.

I could monitor the Task Manager Start-up entries as I re-install programs and apps to see if I can identify the culprits but, as a few more are also seeing this problem, it would be nice to get to the bottom of this before I do the re-install.

I'm sorry, I missed that you said the Properties entry was grayed-out.

Another possibility that might uncover more info...  There is a free tool called Autoruns that identifies programs that are set to start up and run via all the different means (e.g., Startup group, Run keys, Services, etc.).

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Perhaps it would show more detail for things that are listed in Task Manager cryptically.

Many thanks Noel.

The Autoruns utility has enabled me to identify that it was a 'Wondershare Video Converter', that I had previously trialled and uninstalled, that was causing the problem.

Autoruns highlighted a number of items as 'file not found' and it was just a matter of un-checking these items one by one and re-checking Task Manager Start-up each time to identify those that were causing the 'Program' entries in Task Manager Start-up.

A very useful utility indeed!

• Edited by Le_Blur Monday, December 10, 2012 2:36 PM

Try the CCleaner http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download. I had two similar "Program" entries also. "Autoruns" was able to find and remove only one entry, while CCleaner made possible removing the second one.

Hope this helps you too.

I have the same problem. I am unsure of when the file appeared. I know that my computer is only a month old so it has either been there the whole time and i just noticed it today or it showed up yesterday I think it was yesterday because when i turned on my cpu it had windows updates. That wanted me to install metacrawler and some other things that took over my windows 8 apps screen. I uninstalled all of the programs that were installed in a that 5-10 minute span. But an error occurred and would not let me uninstall one of them until I restarted my cpu. My 'program' also gives only greyed out options that I can only select disable or search online for. 

I know this doesn't help you but I am happy that I have found someone else that is sharing this problem and hopefully we can both find a solution.

I also have the same problem.

I have one more problem that there are some unwanted folders in my folders created automaticly & when i delete them they will create again.

Is both of these problems are related??????

Please tell me some solution to solve these problems.

• Proposed as answer by legendryhacker Friday, January 10, 2014 5:18 AM

the answer is simple even though u have removed all files some registry edits are still there go to regedit hkey current user go to softwares go to microsoft then widows folder then run folder u will see the files there delete it from them tht s it

Thank you! 

I used the live version of the program you suggested and found out there were several programs who, after deleting them, still had auto-start up commands (not sure what exactly to call it). After using the program and finding them, I deleted them, and the unknown "Program" entries disappeared. I thought they were viruses, so I was worried. Thank you for helping me clear that up.

• Edited by Golam Rabbani Friday, March 28, 2014 6:11 AM

I have now understood the problem. When we install any program that has specially autorun functionality or any other type of program, it creates startup entry as it can start automatically as soon as the pc starts or rebooted. When we uninstall them from our pc, in some cased it is noticed that they left a file or files, entry named as "program" cause the original file has been uninstalled from the pc, but the startup remembers that there was a program which name is unknown now to the pc ( program name is not recorded now after uninstallation). so it left this entry named "program". It is not a virus or virus like activities.

To remove the unknown startup entry from pc, follow the instruction below:

1. Go to "command prompt" or "Run" to your pc
2. Type "regedit" (press yes if it shows any issue)
   
3. Hkey Current user
4. Softwares
5. Microsoft
6. Windows
7. Current version (I found it in windows 8)
8. Run
9. First count how many of entries named "Program" in your startup.
10. You will see the same number of programs or software you have already uninstalled from you pc who left those entries named "program". Now delete those programs carefully that you have already uninstalled from you pc.
11. Hope you will have the solution now.

• Edited by deliciouslysmug Friday, September 26, 2014 2:39 PM

One could also use a registry cleaning tool to clean up the dead startup links, instead of using the Registry Editor.

WinASO Registry Optimizer works wonders. It will safely clean up the registry and delete entries that are linking to missing files (removable drive entries will be set to ignore by default, such as entries pointing to the optical drives). On top of that, it also includes a tool that will defragment the registry. The Registry Optimizer provides you with the ability to enable/disable startup entries and remove a startup entry as well.

Now... if I can figure out how to remove duplicate entries that come from the same exact location. Time to do some solution searching!