Windows Explorer problems

I have completed all preliminary steps outlined in the sticky thread concerning things to do prior to seeking support, but my problems still remain. My computer is experiencing 2 notable symptoms and they are as follows:

I. In a seemingly random manner, explorer.exe appears to abruptly restart when I am browsing files on my computer. First everything except my wallpaper disappears, followed by a brief hourglass, then my desktop icons reappear, followed by the taskbar, and eventually one by one the icons in the notification area load similar to when windows is loading. In fact, the only thing that fails to reappear is the window containing the file browsing session.​

II. All application windows minimize and restore in a sluggish manner, that is a choppy stuttering type motion.​

I am attaching 3 logs. One each from Bit Defender, Panda Scan, and HJT.
I really appreciate any help or insight I can get on these problems. Thanks!

 

I ran both procedures. Here are the log files.

 

Hello,

So glad to see this thread. I'm having a similar problem; difference, I get a Program Error (explorer.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program.) message when trying to move/copy/cut or paste files. I've been having it for some time. And now its become a real nuisance. I downloaded and ran the suggested GetRunKey. Due to the warning on their website, I was afraid to download the BlackLightBeta.

Attached is the GetRunKey log.

My Computer info:
OS: MS Windows 2000 Pro 5.0.2195 SP 4
CPU: Intel Pentium IIIE, 800Mhz
System Memory: 128 MB

I must add I do have an older PC but again, I have been having this problem for some time now.

Thanks

 

Are you sure this is just "random" files or folders? Does it seem to happen more with files that contain graphics, if so, what file extensions?

Also, I didn't notice it in your HJT log but do you have Photoshop installed?

Steve

 

Steve,

Now that you mention it, the problem does happen mostly in a directory that contains lots of Jpegs. I do have PS installed. Also important to note is that this problem directory is on a seperate partition than my system partition. I don't really recall having this problem when browsing for files on the system partition.

The secondary problem that i was having, you know with the choppy minimizing/maximizing windows, that has seemed to cease. I will be keeping a close eye on it to see if certain programs trigger this.

 

OK. I would start by uninstalling Photoshop. When you re-install it DO NOT make Photoshop the default program for .JPG and .PNG files, or if you want, any file type other than .PSD.

This is just a guess, but it does solve these types of problems sometimes.

Steve

 

Ok, I just discovered that the laggy minimize problem is caused by certain webpages. I presume that it's caused by certain types of layouts requiring certain specific technologies like Java etc.

Here's what happens when I visit MySpace.com for instance:

I open IE, default page is Google. I minimize the window, it happens instantly, same for maximize. I then go to the MySpace default page, still no change in minimize/maximize behavior. Once I login to MySpace and am at the page where you manage your profile, the minimizing becomes choppy, not only with that window but with other non-IE windows as well. So I click back button on browser, everything is normal again.

Now here's the deal, if while in my profile at Myspace I type google.com in the address bar, all open windows remain laggy to minimize, even though Google is one of the websites that do not trigger the effect.

It seems as though clicking the back button on the browser unloads the unwanted effect while continuing to surf from the page that triggers the effect keeps the effect loaded in memory.

I noticed that more complex pages with lots of frames ect. seem to trigger the effect.

I will reinstall PS as you suggest.... that's a very good point Steve, thanks!

 

I uninstalled PS and I am still having the laggy window minimize/maximize problem. The problem with explorer.exe restarting seems to have vanished. Please read my previous post for more info.

 

OK. If the explorer.exe crashing is resolved, you should be able to reinstall Photoshop and be alright. Be sure to set it up like we discussed earlier to prevent further conflicts.

The minimize/maximize problem, I'm not sure. Try using a different homepage, don't use Google, see if it makes a difference.

Do you have all your updates? Update XP and your drivers. Try disabling some of the running processes, free up as much resources as you can and see if it happens.

Steve