>An unknown VFP exe starts and hangs when my PC starts up. I cant find it in any startup folder, autoexec.bat, task manager, or in the registry in the usual spot. How is this thing getting launched?

There is some freeware that should help you find out...
Goto this webiste:
http://www.mlin.net/

There are 2 programs there...
Startup Control Panel (awsome - I put it on all of my machines.)
StartupMonitor

Between these two things (and probably just the 1st one) you should be able to figure it out...