Tor "Failed to parse/validate config"

I was using Tor completely fine last night in Ubuntu 12.04. I installed TorChat then when I went to use it today I get the following error message.

Oct 15 22:45:57.888 [notice] Initialized libevent version 2.0.16-stable using method epoll. Good.
Oct 15 22:45:57.888 [notice] Opening Socks listener on 127.0.0.1:9050
Oct 15 22:45:57.889 [warn] Could not bind to 127.0.0.1:9050: Address already in use. Is Tor already running?
Oct 15 22:45:57.889 [warn] Failed to parse/validate config: Failed to bind one of the listener ports.
Oct 15 22:45:57.889 [err] Reading config failed--see warnings above.

So I used ps to attempt to kill the running Tor process and found there was none. I restarted the computer and noticed that while loading the OS some text came up very quickly which was the same as this error message. I uninstalled TorChat to see if that was the problem but that didn't do any good. This is the process list

1835 ?        00:00:00 lightdm
1875 ?        00:00:00 gnome-keyring-d
1886 ?        00:00:00 gnome-session
1922 ?        00:00:00 ssh-agent
1925 ?        00:00:00 dbus-launch
1926 ?        00:00:00 dbus-daemon
1939 ?        00:00:00 gnome-settings-
1944 ?        00:00:00 gvfsd
1946 ?        00:00:00 gvfs-fuse-daemo
1953 ?        00:00:01 compiz
1962 ?        00:00:00 pulseaudio
1965 ?        00:00:00 gconf-helper
1967 ?        00:00:00 gconfd-2
1971 ?        00:00:00 gvfsd-metadata
1973 ?        00:00:00 nautilus
1974 ?        00:00:00 polkit-gnome-au
1975 ?        00:00:00 bluetooth-apple
1976 ?        00:00:00 gnome-fallback-
1979 ?        00:00:00 nm-applet
1985 ?        00:00:00 gvfs-gdu-volume
2005 ?        00:00:00 gvfs-gphoto2-vo
2007 ?        00:00:00 gvfs-afc-volume
2028 ?        00:00:00 gvfsd-trash
2030 ?        00:00:00 gvfsd-burn
2036 ?        00:00:00 bamfdaemon
2050 ?        00:00:00 sh
2051 ?        00:00:00 gtk-window-deco
2056 ?        00:00:00 gdu-notificatio
2058 ?        00:00:00 unity-panel-ser
2060 ?        00:00:00 hud-service
2079 ?        00:00:00 indicator-datet
2083 ?        00:00:00 indicator-messa
2084 ?        00:00:00 indicator-sessi
2087 ?        00:00:00 indicator-sound
2088 ?        00:00:00 indicator-appli
2089 ?        00:00:00 indicator-print
2114 ?        00:00:00 geoclue-master
2120 ?        00:00:00 ubuntu-geoip-pr
2133 ?        00:00:00 telepathy-indic
2140 ?        00:00:00 mission-control
2145 ?        00:00:00 goa-daemon
2150 ?        00:00:00 gnome-screensav
2151 ?        00:00:00 zeitgeist-datah
2159 ?        00:00:00 zeitgeist-daemo
2165 ?        00:00:00 zeitgeist-fts
2173 ?        00:00:00 cat
2176 ?        00:00:00 gnome-terminal
2188 ?        00:00:00 gnome-pty-helpe
2189 pts/0    00:00:00 bash
2246 ?        00:00:00 unity-applicati
2249 ?        00:00:00 unity-music-dae
2251 ?        00:00:00 unity-lens-vide
2252 ?        00:00:00 unity-files-dae
2285 ?        00:00:00 unity-musicstor
2314 ?        00:00:00 unity-scope-vid
2328 pts/0    00:00:00 ps

Why would this error message be displaying while booting and is there anything on this list which could indicate that something is running that I haven't picked up and is causing the error?

Solution 1:

I worked out the issue.

sudo gedit /etc/default/tor

Change the "yes" to "no" in the following file

RUN_DAEMON="yes"