On starting Windows the following message appears: ?Generic Host Process for Win32 Services has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience?. After clicking OK to accept the message the computer works normally. How can I stop this message appearing on startup?

The error message displaying on startup is unfortunately a very generic message (as the “generic host process” may imply) and it is often quite difficult to identify the root cause of the problem. So, we will need to commence a process of elimination to determine exactly what is causing this message on startup. As a first step, we need to determine whether the error is being caused by a program or process which loads on Windows startup. Therefore, we will temporarily disable all non-essential programs and processes from loading when Windows starts, to see whether the problem persists. Go to the “Start” menu > “Run” and type “msconfig” (without the quotes) and click OK. In the window that appears, click the “Startup” tab. This will list all the processes which load on startup. Write down all the processes which are enabled (ticked), as you will need to re-enable these processes again. Once this has been done, disable (untick) all the processes by clicking the “Disable All” button. Now that the processes are disabled, click OK and then restart the computer. The computer will restart but not load any non-essential programs or processes. If the error message does not appear on startup, one of the programs or processes which you disabled from loading on startup was causing the problem. In this case, it is mostly a process of elimination to determine which item was causing the error. Go back into the msconfig utility and enable one of the disabled processes, click OK, restart the computer and check whether the problem re-occurs. Repeat this procedure until the problem re-occurs, at which time the most recently enabled process is causing the error message. Without knowing the name of this process I cannot provide much advice on how to resolve the problem, but I can provide some general advice for workarounds.

You will first need to determine the purpose of the process. If you cannot determine the purpose from the process name, use Google or www.processlibrary.com to search for the process name which should hopefully tell you the purpose of the process, and whether the process is associated with any particular program. Having obtained this information you could try searching for the process together with the error message on startup to see whether this is a known problem with a resolution. Alternatively, if the process is not essential to your computer you could leave the process disabled within msconfig, thus resulting in the error message no longer appearing on startup. However, if all else fails and you are unable to determine the purpose of the process yourself, please contact me again with the process name and I will attempt to provide further advice on how the problem can be resolved.

In the event that the error message still appears even after disabling all processes from loading on startup, we can eliminate a startup process as the cause of the problem. Before proceeding further, go back into msconfig and re-enable all the processes which you previously disabled, then click OK and restart the computer. You should next complete a full virus scan and adware/spyware scan of the computer. Some users have reported this problem can be caused by malware installed on the computer, so we should ensure that no such items have found their way onto your machine. If you do not already have an antivirus product, AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition (free.grisoft.com) is a very good free antivirus scanner which may meet your needs. With regards to antispyware and anti-adware products, I suggest that you download and install Ad-Aware Free (www.lavasoft.de), Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.org), and Windows Defender (www.microsoft.com/downloads). Between these three utilities most adware and spyware should be detected and removed from the computer. Once these utilities have finished running and removed any threats, restart the computer to see whether the problem persists.

Another possible cause of the problem, reported by other users, is specific conflict in Windows. In particular, it has been suggested that out of date HP printer and scanner drivers can cause the error message (support.microsoft.com/kb/821690). If you have a HP printer or scanner connected to the computer, it is possible that the drivers are out of date and causing this message to appear. As a starting point, follow the instructions in the previous Microsoft Knowledge Base article to disconnect the printer from the computer. Once this is done, visit the HP website (www.hp.com.au) and click the “Software & Driver Downloads” link to search for updated drivers for your product. Once you have found the latest drivers, download and install the drivers to see whether this resolves the problem.

Should the problem continue after updating the printer and/or scanner drivers, there is a security hot fix which others report can resolve the error. The hot fix is available for download on the Microsoft Knowledge Base website (support.microsoft.com/kb/894391), but make sure you download the correct version (most likely you will need the Windows XP 32-bit version of the update). Once downloaded, run the file to apply the update and check whether the problem continues. At this stage, if the problem still continues then please contact me again for further advice.