ORGINAL POST FROM OPPORTUNIST
Hi dr4z [and others]
I just checked both the desktop version of Spotify and the windows store App version [newly installed in a VM] and both of them while working perfectly produce that same error on start-up that you have provided. It seems to be normal and unrelated to whatever problem you are suffering from. Almost all the 'errors' recorded in there are nothing burgers which occur all the time with no outward sign of anything going wrong and that they exist is used by Microsoft scammers to try to convince people that they have loads of 'viruses' on their computer which are causing all the errors.
If you are trying to stop things from popping up during start-up the typical places to go are:
Msconfig:
Press windows key + r together bring-up the run command:
type 'msconfig' without the quotes into the run command and click ok.
Select the services tab and tick the hide all MS services and the uncheck anything that you don't need booting at start-up.
Taskmanager:
r-click the taskbar at the bottom of the screen and select taskmanager from the popup menu:
Select the 'Start-up' tab and disable anything in there that you don't need to boot at start-up.
Start-up folder in start menu.
Obviously if you have one and there is anything in it, delete it.
Services:
Start Menu -> Program list -> Windows System -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services:
A complete list of all the services and whether they are running, and under what conditions they will run. Again, if there is anything Spotify related, disable it by r
-clicking -> properties -> set "Startup type" to "Disabled".
And now the big one that everyone misses.
Task Scheduler:
Start Menu -> Program list -> Windows System -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Task Scheduler:
On the left hand side you can see where it says "Task Scheduler (Local)"
And underneath that it says Task Scheduler Library with a drop down arrow.
In here you can find tasks that have been scheduled to automatically run, which can include programs, installations, scans, updates, etc some of which you may or may not want to automatically happen. If there is anything Spotify related obviously disable it.
A good way to get an overview of all this is to use the functionality in [the free] ccleaner program.
If you STILL have stuff starting up after you have checked all of that then you probably have something in the registry telling it to start [or another running process calling it]. I'm loath to tell you to start going through the registry because if you don't know what you're doing that's a good way to break your install and you will need to reinstall windows to fix that [if you don't have it properly backed up AND know how to restore it].
One trick you can do in that case is to open task manager and go to the offending task, and r-click on it and 'open file location' which should take you to that executable file.
If you add '.BAK' to the file name that should stop it running. [it's quite a kludge, but if you're looking for a stopgap till Spotify gets back to you with something more helpful and it's not properly uninstalling... Hard to do more without knowing more about how Spotify works or having access to your machines. If it turns out that breaks something, go back to the file {the location of which you carefully noted down 😉 } and remove the .BAK extension and it should 'unbreak'.]
One semi-nuclear option, bar full reinstallation of windows, is to do a 'repair install' of windows. Basically you do an in-place upgrade installation to exactly the same version of windows you already have.
You would use Microsoft’s "Media Creation Tool" ...
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
[click "Download tool now" under "Create Windows 10 installation media"]
... To download the latest version of windows and then use that to do an in-place installation. The advantage of a repair install is that unlike a windows 'refresh' or any of those options it doesn't remove your programs and it also keeps all your files and folders and most of your settings intact. It does however replace the windows system files with nice shiny new ones [if it all works properly] and repair the windows apps/registry etc. So IF that is where the problem lies, this MIGHT fix the problem without all the hassle of having to reinstall all your programs and files and re-set everything-up... However it's still a windows install, it can still go wrong, and screw-up your system all on it's own. Takes hours. And might have nothing to do with the problem.
But it's a better last ditch than a full reinstall.
If you do think about trying it, then make sure to turn off everything that is not windows from starting up and running [in taskmanager and msconfig as described above] and disable your AV/firewall [unless it's windows defender] and ideally run ccleaner to clean up the registry/temp files before you start to maximise your chances of success...
And do remember to turn them back on afterwards. 😉
I wish you good luck and hope that some of that was helpful.
