Thank you for the reply. I will proceed with the instructions provided.

However, I have a 'related' concern. As I was troubleshooting this issue I did several shutdowns and restarts and noticed that Deskscapes would activate at every boot. I searched and confirmed I do not have this app set to start automatically at boot and could not find anything in the app itself to start with Windows(10). How can I avoid this?

Update : 

I applied one more troubleshooting step (purge/reinstall suggestion currently on hold) and have confirmed the cause. I deleted all the playlists I created and this results with explorer.exe task running normally. The combined size of the files in the playlists total +4GB. All the files are mp4, graphic-intensive, hi-res (1920x1080 min.) and some are as long as 15 minutes in length. Please let me know if this is a Deskscapes limitation and that I have overtasked the app and what solution, if any, is recommended.

However, I still want to know how to prevent this app from starting at boot. I want this app to invoke and terminate as most other apps. Typically, one double-cliks an icon to invoke the app and navigates to an exit/quit menu item to terminate.

So, if this limitation/behavior is normal for the current version I am using (v11.02) so be it. (Hopefully, the response will be to go thru the purge/reinstall steps suggested and all my concerns will resolve).

-thank you

Hello,
I have forwarded your problem/question to Stardock Support Team for their assistance. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We appreciate your feedback and patience.

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

You could just choose regular wallpaper from yours stopping Deskscapes to run on startup,but this is my past experience with older version. However,even though you done that, Deskscapes' service is running on the background.