Thanks for the suggestion but I have checked and rechecked this and other typical places but, after several months, still cannot find what is opening the window. I have scruntinised any and all config files, checked the registry manually as well as using several tools dedicated to editing start-up options, checked the bootlog.txt for any files that may inadvertantly cause the window to open, and checked startup dir for hidden files (which shouldn't be the cause anyway) and everything else I can think of. Hence the post, I'm now convinced that LS has performed some unusual mod somewhere that is not obvious. Maybe LS has set a read-only flag somewhere? Keep the suggestions coming, thanks.