I've got as plugin which is slowing VMC startup and want to remove. I've disabled all the plugins in VMC program options- think this is only for display?
All I have to go on is the program comes up with a blue rectangle with "Windows Media Center" in it at media center startup.
Is there a way to find the guilty plugin or does anyone recognise the symptom/ splash?
Think it may be related to MCEbuddy/ comskip but can't find any info to help identify or uninstall...

The program options page should disable anything that is registered as an add-in. It could be something is piggybacking on the application some other way. I'd suggest using Process Explorer (procexp.exe from http://live.sysinternals.com/), to see what processes are running and what DLLs (View.Lower Pane View.DLLs) are loaded in the ehShell.exe process.

To remove a plugin, if you have the xml file that comes with it, for example plugin.xml is the filename:

1.  Open a cmd window

2.  go to %windir%\ehome directory

3.  registermceapp /u plugin.xml.

If that plugin is registered for all users then you should use "registermceapp /u /allusers plugin.xml" as administrator, instead.

 

 

You can also rip them out of the registry at:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Extensibility\Appications

And if they are on a strip besides in the Extras then also here:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Extensibility\Entry Points

thanks for the all the suggestions! Checking a bit more the process runs very early- it's the first thing I see after windows desktop appears before ehshell is running- I presume this means it's not a plugin to itself. At this point I just get a square "windows media center" splash box. I've cleared addons in the registry as suggested. I even tried using msconfig "diagnostic startup" and it still runs! Only if I safe boot "minimal" does it not appear.