Hello,
It's been a very long time since I've been here. Thanks for being here!
Lately, every time I boot up, I get a box on my screen that says:

Desktop
Could not load or run 'C:\Users\ my name\LOCALS~1\Temp\msqycoa.com' specified in the registry.
Make sure the file exists on your computer or remove the reference to it in the registry.

When I try to follow the address, I get to, C\users\my name\, but LOCALS~1 doesn't seem to exist.
I tried looking in the registry for it by doing the regedit THING and I don't see anything related, but maybe I just don't know what I'm looking at?
I'm running Vista Home edition.
any ideas?
TIALOCALS~1 is an MS-DOS style/short/8-dot-3 file name for Local Settings, a hidden folder in your user directory. In windows vista/7, it's an oddly-behaving pointer to a different location where some of your user data is stored. Given its name and location, it seems like it could be either part of an installer for a program or a virus. You can use sysinternals autoruns or another startup manager to find and remove the startup entry for it to stop the message from appearing every time you log on.

sysinternals autoruns here (use the file Autoruns.exe in the zip file):
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

You should run a virus scan as well in case something malicious got on your computer.
I loaded the auto run thing but I'm not sure about what what to do with it.
There is a line (yellow) with the description I'm looking for.
I tried to delete it, but it won't let me.
??Are you running as administrator? Make sure you are. If you can't delete it, can you at least uncheck it?I right click and say run as administrator.
When I uncheck it, I get, Error changing item state, access denied.
If I try to delete it I get, Error deleting start setting, access denied.What is the full path of the item (e.g. HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, shows up above the section) and the name of the item? You may need to reset your permissions for that key through the registry.This is what I see:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\Load
and under that:
C:\Users\jim\LOCALS~1\Temp\msqycoa.comFile not found: C:\Users\jim\LOCALS~1\Temp\msqycoa.com
Edit:
I disabled the User Account Control.
opened the registry and found it.
The only thing that will HIGHLIGHT is "load"
If I right click and select delete, I get a warning. If I ignore the warning and select delete, I get:
Unable to delete all specified values.
Edit again:
I RAN Superantispyware, and AVG antivirus scans, and both came up clean.



Right-click on they key "Load" and click permissions. Click Add... and type in your login name for windows. check the 'full control' box. now try to delete the thing on the right that says msqycoa.com and post back if you get errors. If you get success post anyway so we know I WENT in and tried again.
When I right click on Load, a box opens up. Options in the box are:

MODIFY
Modify Binary Data
Delete
Rename

There is no option for permissions.
I am the only user on this machine and it's an administrator account.
hmmmm?The 'Permissions' option is on the key (folder ICON) not the value (what you click on). Do the same thing I suggested before (adding self with full control). Before you delete the entry, right-click the key (folder icon again) and click EXPORT, and save the file as a backup. If something goes wrong you can run this backup file to restore your change.I'm sorry,
I'm not very computer literate I guess, but I'm learning!
Got it, I'll try tonight.Thank you,
It worked perfectly!