{"id":6479,"date":"2018-08-19T20:29:49","date_gmt":"2018-08-19T20:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=6479"},"modified":"2019-07-03T18:12:22","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T18:12:22","slug":"task-manager-unknown-program-startup-entry-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/task-manager-unknown-program-startup-entry-fix\/","title":{"rendered":"What is “Program” in Task Manager Startup Tab"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you open Task Manager and click on the Startup tab to manage auto-start entries, you may notice one or more entries showing up as “Program” showing up with a blank or generic icon and\u00a0without any Publisher information.<\/p>\n

\"unknown<\/p>\n

The unknown “Program” entries are most likely caused if both<\/strong> of the following conditions are true:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The startup entry refers to an invalid or non-existent file under “Program Files” folder.<\/li>\n
  2. The registry value data corresponding to that startup entry is not enclosed within double-quotes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This article tells what does the “Program” entries in the Startup tab mean and how to get rid of those entries.<\/p>\n

    What is “Program” in Task Manager Startup Tab<\/h2>\n

    To identify and fix the unknown “Program” entries in the Startup tab of Task Manager, follow these steps:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Start Task Manager (Ctrl<\/kbd> + Shift<\/kbd> + Esc<\/kbd>), and select the Startup<\/strong> tab<\/li>\n
    2. Right-click on the column header and enable these two options: Startup type<\/strong> and Command line<\/strong>
      \n\"task
      \nNow the origin of the “Program” entries are displayed. You can now see the full path and command-line of that startup entry.
      \n\"unknown<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Fix 1: If the program (.exe) file is NOT present in the specified folder, <\/strong>then see article Remove invalid entries from Task Manager Startup tab<\/a>\u00a0to know how to remove the orphaned Startup entry in Task Manager via the Registry Editor or using the Autoruns<\/strong> utility from Microsoft.<\/p>\n

      \n

      In one example, the entry Realtek<\/strong> was causing the problem. The registry Run<\/strong> key had this entry:<\/p>\n

      Value name: Realtek<\/strong>\r\n\r\nData: C:\\Program Files\\Realtek\\Audio\\HDA\\RAVCpl64.exe -s\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n
      The application had long back been uninstalled but the orphaned Startup entry remains.<\/p>\n
      The Startup entry\u00a0could be located in any one of the following registry locations.<\/p>\n
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run\r\nHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run\r\nHKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run\r\nHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\WOW6432Node\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run<\/pre>\n
      Note that the “Disabled<\/strong>” startup entries in Task Manager are stored in this part of the registry:<\/p>\n
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\StartupApproved\\Run\r\nHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\StartupApproved\\Run<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
      Fix 2: If the program (.exe) file is present in the specified folder (less likely):<\/strong><\/p>\n
        \n
      1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe<\/code>) and go to each of the Run registry keys mentioned above.<\/li>\n
      2. Locate the corresponding startup entry, double-click on it and add double-quotes around the file path.
        \n\"registry<\/li>\n
      3. Exit the Registry Editor.Now, the Startup item shows up as below:
        \n\"unknown<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \"tips<\/p>\n
        If the Publisher info is missing and the entry shows up as a generic icon as in the above screenshot, then the program is most likely missing. In that case, you may delete the orphaned Startup entry using the steps listed in\u00a0Remove invalid entries from Task Manager Startup tab.<\/a><\/p>\n
        That’s it! You’ve now fixed\/eliminated the suspicious “Program” entry from Task Manager Startup tab.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
        When you open Task Manager and click on the Startup tab to manage auto-start entries, you may notice one or more entries showing up as “Program” showing up with a blank or generic icon and\u00a0without any Publisher information. The unknown “Program” entries are most likely caused if both of the following conditions are true: The … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[441,580],"class_list":["post-6479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows","tag-registry","tag-task-manager"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":76085,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/task-manager-startup-tab-guid-number\/","url_meta":{"origin":6479,"position":0},"title":"Task Manager Startup tab has two strange entries (a GUID and a number)","author":"Ramesh","date":"July 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"After installing or uninstalling a game app, two strange startup entries may appear in the Startup tab of Task Manager. 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This functionality is now provided by the Task Manager in Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11, which features a new \"Startup\" tab that lists all auto-start entries in the system. 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