HDTV Tuner Program is randomly starting itself once a day.

Hi I have an AVerMEDIA Volar Green USB2.0 HDTV Tuner to watch TV on my PC, which is set up as a 5.1 surround Sound, 3D, Home Theater and Gaming system in my lounge room.

However at least once a day, the program that the tuner uses to play TV Broadcasts just starts itself, regardless of if I am watching a DVD/BluRay or in the middle of a game. I hear the classic "BADAM!" of a device being connected and the AVerTV 3D application start's up, with Windows 7 automatically alt+tabbing me from whatever app/game I am on at the time to bring the AVerTV 3D application into focus. This is getting annoying. Some games don't like being alt+Tabbed and I have to unplug the device from my USB port, because if I am on one of those games, and the AVerTV 3D program starts the game crashes because Windows alt+tabs out of it on it's own, to focus on the AVerTV 3D app that starts itself.

This has only been happening for a month or two and I have had this device for 8 months at least. I did the usual scanning with Microsoft Security Essentials, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Super Anti-Spyware, but they did not find anything. I also used Ccleaner and WiseCare365 to optimise the registery and clear out all the values from old, uninstalled apps/games that are no longer being used.

I even tried uninstalling the AVerTV 3D app, unplugging the device, clearing the device completely in device manager, rebooting, and plugging the device back in and reinstalling the software/drivers, then rebooting again, and this also didn't help.

The only thing I haven't done is reformat my PC and perform a clean reinstall of Windows 7 pro x64. I really don't want to perform this nightmare, unless Windows stuff up so bad no program would run.

Any Help to get rid of this annoying problem would be apreciated. Often after watching TV, I forget to unplug the USB HDTV Tuner device, and get reminded when the AVerTV 3D app starts itself, and I get alt+tabbed out of my app/game, for an unplanned TV session.

AVerTV 3D is also not set as a sceduled task.


SYSTEM SPECS:

Windows 7 Professional 64bit on Kingston HyperX Fury SSD (120Gb)
ASUS Z97-k Mobo
Corsair HX850i Platinum Grade 850w PSU
Intel i7-4790k in turbo mode 4.4Ghz via BIOS XMP settings
Corsair H115i Liquid CPU Cooler with 280mm Radiator & 2x Fans
32Gb Corsair Vengeance pro 2400 DDR3 RAM set to 2400Mhz in Bios XMP settings
8Gb Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming GTX1080 Waterforce OC (2,150Mhz Core + 10,600Mhz VRAM)
Sound Blaster Zx PCIe Sound Card
Logitech Z906 THX Certified 5.1 Surrond Speakers and LFE
Seagate 8Tb Archive Internal HDD
Seagate 4Tb Internal HDD
WD Caviar 1.5Tb Internal HDD
WD Elements 1Tb External USB 3.0 HDD
WD Elements 3Tb External USB 3.0 HDD
ASUS VG278 27" 120Hz 3D Monitor with Nvidia 3D Vision 2 (tm)
AVERMedia Volar Green USB2.0 HDTV Tuner
Targus Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter
AfterGlow Wired Xbox360 Controller
Logitech K260 Wireless Keyboard
Fractal Design XL-R2 Full Tower ATX Chassis
ASUS PCE-AC68U AC1900 PCIe WiFi Card paired with:
ASUS RT-AC68U AC1900 Dual-Band Router on 5ghz band

Megahertz07 said:

If it's not on startup and if it's not on the tuner options, It can be a scheduled start.

Open Task Scheduler (%windir%\system32\taskschd.msc /s) and look for it.

Shceduled task was the first thing I thought of, before signing up here to make this thread. I couldn't find AVerTV3D anywhere in task scheculer. It's odd that the forced app start is precedded by the windows BADAM! sound like I have just connected a USB Device.

I hope it's not hardware failure of the dongle, causing it do disconnect then reconnect, although I don't hear the windows DABAM! disconnect USB device sound. But the program automatically does start if it is unplugged and I plug it in, and this can not be changed, in any settting.

Could it be starting up to check for data for the TV guide? Windows Media Centre used to do this at the stupidest times for me and clog the PC's network connection and affect playback or recording.

Just a thought.

Thanks for your replies, but I still can't figure out what is causing this issue.

Although now sometimes I go a day without AVerTV 3D Starting, the day after it will auto-start at any time day or night. This is reqlly perplexing, and I think the only solution is to wipe my rig and reinstall windows. (Which is like saying "I don't like seeing this, so I will cut out my eyes as a solution").

what if it's a background process that's doing this entirely on it's own? It would then make sense why it's not showing up in startup or task scheduler