an irritant

I have win 8.1 on my laptop. Every time I turn my machine on, I get the desktop context box ( you get it when you right click on the desktop). I get rid by pressing the return key. Is there away of preventing it. I have no idea how it came about. Any ideas !

Hard to say what caused it but try using msconfig to disable startup apps and if that stops it then just go through adding each one until you find the culprit and then remove it from where is loaded. Also if not too long ago try using system restore to a date prior to the problem.