Where is the tab/indent options in Notepad++ 5.5

The configuration files are typically stored in the user's roaming app data folder. I have a standard Notepad++ setup (v6.1). I made no modifications during installation. My config files are stored in:

%appdata%\Notepad++

Which resolves to:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++

I verified this by opening %appdata%\Notepad++\config.xml and checking the value for <GUIConfig name="StatusBar"> tag, which was set to show. I then went into Settings -> Preferences and unchecked the "Show status bar" checkbox. I then closed Notepad++ and reopened the config.xml file. The value now shows hide instead of show.

If you did check the "Don't use the %APPDATA% folder" option at install time, Notepad++ may be trying to write configuration files to your install directory but failing, or the Windows compatibility layer may be giving you a virtualized version of the install directory to write to. In that case I would uninstall, and reinstall using standard settings.

Some times, programs can start via a scheduled task. So, check there for anything you're not sure of.

Also, and I can't think of why any program would do this for Notepad++, but it could be possible that another program is opening NotePad ++ (eg, a malicious script loads it up for no good reason).

Lastly, it is possible that an update has occurred on the software itself. So, yes, you are right to check the MSCONFIG but also look through the NotePad ++ settings and ensure that it is not set to load with Windows.

If none of the above help, then it is possible that the default programs are set incorrectly. For example (and this is a silly example but it does demonstrate the theory), let's assume my PC was set to open a web page every time Windows loaded but for a strange reason I bug made all web pages to open with NotePad++ (which I was unaware of), this could then occur. Although it's not typical, this has happened to me once before at work.