Stop Excel from opening multiple instances

I have an odd problem that just started popping up. I have several shortcuts to excel files on my desktop and when I use them to open a file, it is opening 2 windows each time...1 with the file and another window with header ribbon and nothing else. If I try to close the "blank" window, it closes the actual file and then I have to again close the "blank" window to get out.

This happens with all of the shortcuts. I can open the exact same files from windows explorer or recently used in excel and they are fine...its just the desktop shortcuts. Any ideas??

I think i narrowed this down to an old private sub that i cant figure out how to delete. Found an old thread that is in VBA that i responded to instead...