if you are using VISTA, look at the icons at the lower right corner of the screen. One of them is for "Blocked Startup Programs". If your program is on the list, VISTA has blocked it from startup. Just click on it to activate it.
good point. will a generic bottle of canned air from Staples do the trick? sometimes it's hard to tell if the canned air is blowing the dust out of the machine or further into the machine
I am using Vista, however I don't see any icon for blocked startup programs. I went into Windows defender to look at the list of startup programs. I see HDD Thermometer listed and above it it says "publisher not available". To the right of it it lists its classification as "not yet classified"