startkiller causes dwwin.exe on windows shutdown

oops. that fix didn't last more than a couple reboots. but, i've found the conflict:

i'm using an IBM thinkpad, and they have this excellent utility for network connection profile management called "ThinkVantage Access Connections" -- i'll call it TAC, for short.

if i shut down with both startkiller and TAC running, i get the error always.

if i close either startkiller or TAC before shutting down, i rarely get an error.

if i kill explorer.exe from the task manager and then shut down, no error.

so, if there's a way i can kill startkiller.exe from the command line, i can write a little batch file to kill it and then call a shutdown. if i use this instead of the windows shutdown, the problem should be averted.

or, maybe there's a way to make startkiller unload more cleanly on shutdown?