Gnome file window keeps popping up

I have been happily using RH 7.1 on a PC that isn't connected to the internet, although I sometimes use a flash drive to carry stuff to it from other PCs that are connected to the internet. I think it is probably not infected with a virus.

A few days ago, the cursor froze immediately after I logged in. I revived it by unplugging the mouse and plugging it back in. Until that occurred to me, I was clicking on various mouse buttons and that might have something to do with the next change that took place on my system. I use the Gnome desktop and normally there are just a few icons and the panel but no windows open when I first log in. For the last few days, whenever I log in, a terminal window and a Gnome file system window (the one that opens if you click on the home directory icon) open up automatically. This is a nuisance because I then have to close the Gnome file system window but what is more troubling is that I don't know why this is happening. I'm willing to buttume for the moment that it means nothing and was just caused by what happened with the mouse. Even so, I'd like to know how to get it to stop doing that. I've looked at the Gnome documentation and am not finding it very helpful, particularly since I have had bad experiences in the past trying to correct problems with Gnome on other computers (you might recall some earlier postings in which another PC became unbootable, even with a boot CD, following some problems involving the Gnome panel failing to appear when I logged in).

I decided, in view of that experience, to back up my current PC and spent a few hours doing so. I should probably do backups more often so that if there is something lurking in the system, I'm not stuck with only one recent backup, a backup contaminated with whatever is bothering the computer. Most likely this will all end well, and learning more about backups is probably good for me. I think I can handle that. I just want to know how to correct the problem I'm having with Gnome and some guesses as to what might have caused it.

There is one more aspect of this Gnome window problem. When I was backing up the PC, I burned about 5 CD's. After the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, the same Gnome window came back. After the fifth, the CD drive ejected, as it was supposed to, but closed again before I could remove the CD and a window came up with the contents of the CD. That's perfectly normal, but not the Gnome file system window that came up the other 3 times. -- Ignorantly, * Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and * comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.