Right click on any drive "Windows Explorer must close" message ape

If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, C:, A:, D:,
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and must shut
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--
Doc Payne

"=?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=?=" writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, C:, A:, D:,
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and must shut
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--
Doc Payne

If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.

But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.

And, some find it will work when you create a new user and switch
to that user to try it.

One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an answer.

Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time

Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.

Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.

You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside now.

I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you something
that does work then please report it.

I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same problem,
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and Divx but I
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not experience any
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried using a
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have you heard of
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to fix the
problem?

"Don Taylor" wrote:

"=?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=?=" writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, C:, A:, D:,
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and must shut
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--
Doc Payne

If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.

But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.

And, some find it will work when you create a new user and switch
to that user to try it.

One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an answer.

Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time

Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.

Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.

You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside now.

I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you something
that does work then please report it.

DocMP wrote:

I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same problem,
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and Divx but I
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not experience any
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried using a
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have you heard of
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to fix the
problem?


Did you try removing spysweeper and DivX to see if either one was the
culprit?

Ive tried the new user workaround & it didnt work for me & Ive still got the
same problem

"DocMP" wrote:

I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same problem,
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and Divx but I
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not experience any
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried using a
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have you heard of
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to fix the
problem?

"Don Taylor" wrote:

"=?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=?=" writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, C:, A:, D:,
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and must shut
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--
Doc Payne

If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.

But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.

And, some find it will work when you create a new user and switch
to that user to try it.

One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an answer.

Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time

Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.

Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.

You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside now.

I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you something
that does work then please report it.

DixX thingy is a Shell Extension. It could be any.

--=20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"philmonkey" wrote in message =
...
Ive tried the new user workaround & it didnt work for me & Ive still =
got the=20
same problem
=20
"DocMP" wrote:
=20
I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same =
problem,=20
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and Divx =
but I=20
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not experience =
any=20
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried using =
a=20
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have you =
heard of=20
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to fix =
the=20
problem?=20
=20
"Don Taylor" wrote:
=20
"=3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D?=3D" =
writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, =
C:, A:, D:,=20
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and =
must shut=20
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--=20
Doc Payne
=20
If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.
=20
But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.
=20
And, some find it will work when you create a new user and switch
to that user to try it.
=20
One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an =
answer.
=20
Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time
=20
Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.
=20
Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.
=20
You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside =
now.
=20
I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start =
accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you =
something
that does work then please report it.

"=?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=?=" writes:
I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same problem,
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and Divx but I
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not experience any
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried using a
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have you heard of
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to fix the
problem?

People have tried all sorts of incantations. Lots of people swear
it is this or it is that or this is the solution, none of which can
actually be verified as the real cause of this. Thus far I've
only seen a very small number (4 I think out of the hundred+ reporting
this) that have found any of the suggestions actually solved their
Windows Explorer problem. But if you hit something with a big
enough sledge hammer, who knows, it might work and nobody will ever
know why. At the moment I'm looking for tools that will actually
find and point out a flaw so we might narrow this down and get a fix
but thus far I haven't found anything.

"Don Taylor" wrote:
"=?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=?=" writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, C:, A:, D:,
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and must shut
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--
Doc Payne

If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.

But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.

And, some find it will work when you create a new user and switch
to that user to try it.

One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an answer.

Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time

Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.

Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.

You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside now.

I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you something
that does work then please report it.

I saw someone quoting Ramesh. On his web site he tells you what to do to =
find the cause.

There is no mystery to this. Substitute Drive for Folder and drives for =
File Folder as I can't be bothered to retype it. However Drives are not =
Directories.


It's always been caused by a non MS program.=20

Folders include My Comp, Control Panel, and File Folders. File Folders =
are things like c:\somefolder.

File Folders inherit all of Folder's settings and from AllFileSystem =
settings.

Therefore,

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandle rs

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHan dlers

What's under here in the registry (type regedit in Start Run)

(it's normally caused by contextmenuhandlers)


--=20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =
...
"=3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D?=3D" writes:
I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same =
problem,=20
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and Divx =
but I=20
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not experience =
any=20
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried using =
a=20
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have you =
heard of=20
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to fix =
the=20
problem?=20
=20
People have tried all sorts of incantations. Lots of people swear
it is this or it is that or this is the solution, none of which can
actually be verified as the real cause of this. Thus far I've
only seen a very small number (4 I think out of the hundred+ reporting
this) that have found any of the suggestions actually solved their
Windows Explorer problem. But if you hit something with a big
enough sledge hammer, who knows, it might work and nobody will ever
know why. At the moment I'm looking for tools that will actually
find and point out a flaw so we might narrow this down and get a fix
but thus far I haven't found anything.
=20
"Don Taylor" wrote:
"=3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D?=3D" =
writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, =
C:, A:, D:,=20
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and =
must shut=20
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--=20
Doc Payne
=20
If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.
=20
But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.
=20
And, some find it will work when you create a new user and switch
to that user to try it.
=20
One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an =
answer.
=20
Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time
=20
Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.
=20
Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.
=20
You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside now.
=20
I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you =
something
that does work then please report it.

Anyway Ramesh TELLS you what to do. That's why you were talking about =
ShellEx program.

--=20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =
...
"=3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D?=3D" writes:
I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same =
problem,=20
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and Divx =
but I=20
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not experience =
any=20
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried using =
a=20
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have you =
heard of=20
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to fix =
the=20
problem?=20
=20
People have tried all sorts of incantations. Lots of people swear
it is this or it is that or this is the solution, none of which can
actually be verified as the real cause of this. Thus far I've
only seen a very small number (4 I think out of the hundred+ reporting
this) that have found any of the suggestions actually solved their
Windows Explorer problem. But if you hit something with a big
enough sledge hammer, who knows, it might work and nobody will ever
know why. At the moment I'm looking for tools that will actually
find and point out a flaw so we might narrow this down and get a fix
but thus far I haven't found anything.
=20
"Don Taylor" wrote:
"=3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D?=3D" =
writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, =
C:, A:, D:,=20
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and =
must shut=20
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--=20
Doc Payne
=20
If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.
=20
But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.
=20
And, some find it will work when you create a new user and switch
to that user to try it.
=20
One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an =
answer.
=20
Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time
=20
Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.
=20
Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.
=20
You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside now.
=20
I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you =
something
that does work then please report it.

"David Candy" writes:
Anyway Ramesh TELLS you what to do. That's why you were talking about =
ShellEx program.

Not knowing "Ramesh" I don't think he is TELLING me what to do.
I'll certainly go look at his directions, if you can let me know
where they are or exactly what you are talking about.

Just curious, have you actually tried this and see that it fixes
the Windows Explorer problem that half a dozen people a day report?

My comments about Shell Extensions were based on what I found when
someone else claimed that all the Shell Extensions were bad code
and responsible for all our problems, and that I should go disable
them to fix this. Who knows, maybe that was Ramesh." That didn't
work for me. But two individuals in the last hundred+ have reported
they did find one of these fixed a problem, based on the info I wrote
below.

Thank you

----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =
...
"=3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D?=3D" writes:
I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same =
problem,=20
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and Divx =
but I=20
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not experience =
any=20
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried using =
a=20
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have you =
heard of=20
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to fix =
the=20
problem?=20
=20
People have tried all sorts of incantations. Lots of people swear
it is this or it is that or this is the solution, none of which can
actually be verified as the real cause of this. Thus far I've
only seen a very small number (4 I think out of the hundred+ reporting
this) that have found any of the suggestions actually solved their
Windows Explorer problem. But if you hit something with a big
enough sledge hammer, who knows, it might work and nobody will ever
know why. At the moment I'm looking for tools that will actually
find and point out a flaw so we might narrow this down and get a fix
but thus far I haven't found anything.
=20
"Don Taylor" wrote:
"=3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D?=3D" =
writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, =
C:, A:, D:,=20
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and =
must shut=20
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--=20
Doc Payne
=20
If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.
=20
But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.
=20
And, some find it will work when you create a new user and switch
to that user to try it.
=20
One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an =
answer.
=20
Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time
=20
Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.
=20
Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.
=20
You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside now.
=20
I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you =
something
that does work then please report it.

I do it with windows tools. Ramesh (http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k) does =
it with ShellExViewer as he believes it easier for you to follow. =
Everytime I worked with someone on this we've solved it. It has always =
been a context menu extensions. These are notoriously difficult to write =
without bugs (MS is giving a big tutorial now on it for developers =
http://weblogs.asp.net/oldnewthing). So probably 50 people. But I can't =
bear to keep doing it so I ignore most of the questions. It usually =
fairly time consuming for me as people often don't give full info so I =
can deduct the location to look for the handler.

From MS

That's because there are a lot of buggy context menu handlers out =
there.=20
Some context menu handlers don't support Unicode;=20
others don't support Ansi. What's really fun is that instead=20
of returning E_NOTIMPL, they return S_OK but don't=20
actually do anything. Other context menus have buffer overflow=20
problems and write to the buffer beyond the actual size you =
specified.=20


And they all have to work together but buggy ones interfere with others.

Ramesh has found people he fixes have DivX and the other one. Noone I =
helped has had those two, Many people have bugs but down use the feature =
that shows the bugs (hangs are probably the rarest of the symptoms).
--=20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =
...
"David Candy" writes:
Anyway Ramesh TELLS you what to do. That's why you were talking about =
=3D
ShellEx program.
=20
Not knowing "Ramesh" I don't think he is TELLING me what to do.
I'll certainly go look at his directions, if you can let me know
where they are or exactly what you are talking about.
=20
Just curious, have you actually tried this and see that it fixes
the Windows Explorer problem that half a dozen people a day report?
=20
My comments about Shell Extensions were based on what I found when
someone else claimed that all the Shell Extensions were bad code
and responsible for all our problems, and that I should go disable
them to fix this. Who knows, maybe that was Ramesh." That didn't
work for me. But two individuals in the last hundred+ have reported
they did find one of these fixed a problem, based on the info I wrote
below.
=20
Thank you
=20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =3D
...
"=3D3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D3D?=3D3D" =
writes:
I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same =
=3D
problem,=3D20
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and Divx =
=3D
but I=3D20
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not experience =
=3D
any=3D20
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried =
using =3D
a=3D20
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have you =
=3D
heard of=3D20
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to fix =
=3D
the=3D20
problem?=3D20
=3D20
People have tried all sorts of incantations. Lots of people swear
it is this or it is that or this is the solution, none of which can
actually be verified as the real cause of this. Thus far I've
only seen a very small number (4 I think out of the hundred+ =
reporting
this) that have found any of the suggestions actually solved their
Windows Explorer problem. But if you hit something with a big
enough sledge hammer, who knows, it might work and nobody will ever
know why. At the moment I'm looking for tools that will actually
find and point out a flaw so we might narrow this down and get a fix
but thus far I haven't found anything.
=3D20
"Don Taylor" wrote:
"=3D3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D3D?=3D3D" =
=3D
writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, =
=3D
C:, A:, D:,=3D20
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and =
=3D
must shut=3D20
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--=3D20
Doc Payne
=3D20
If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I =
don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.
=3D20
But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.
=3D20
And, some find it will work when you create a new user and switch
to that user to try it.
=3D20
One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an =3D
answer.
=3D20
Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time
=3D20
Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to =
have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.
=3D20
Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything =
then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.
=3D20
You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that =
someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by =
temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside =
now.
=3D20
I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start =
accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you =3D
something
that does work then please report it.

"David Candy" writes:
I do it with windows tools. Ramesh (http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k) does =
it with ShellExViewer as he believes it easier for you to follow. =
Everytime I worked with someone on this we've solved it.

Wonderful. I have Windows Explorer locking up every time and refusing
any mouse clicks or keystrokes at all. Absolutely repeatable.

Someone told me it was Shell Extensions that were the buggy source of all
the problems.

I've already tried using ShellExView and disabled the entire 75 of those,
71 of them being Microsoft supplied, one was a little zip utility, one
was Norton, and one or two were RealPlayer. Tried disabling the Shell
Extensions one at a time, checking to see the problem persisted, finally
got tired of that and disabled all 75 at once. Problem remained. Turned
them all back on and had to clean up the details that weren't restored in
the user interface.

Now, if you have have a different theory about what the problem of all
the Windows Explorer crashes and lockups, something better than this or
an alternative to this then I'm up for it. But I'd really like to see
some definitive way to test these context do-dads, some way to actually
confirm whether they have a bug, not just the usual "i dunno, try blowing
all this stuff away, and if that doesn't work then we'll think of sumpthin
else to blow away" trial and error shotgunning approach.

In other words, bizzare as it might seem here, I'm really trying to find
a way to actually diagnose "yes, this specific item is the problem."

It has always =
been a context menu extensions. These are notoriously difficult to write =
without bugs (MS is giving a big tutorial now on it for developers =
http://weblogs.asp.net/oldnewthing). So probably 50 people. But I can't =
bear to keep doing it so I ignore most of the questions. It usually =
fairly time consuming for me as people often don't give full info so I =
can deduct the location to look for the handler.

Someone else told me it was all the fault of "corrupted user profiles",
that was really the cause of all the problems. I've been searching for
a tool that will validate a user profile and will display any errors in
one or will announce that it is not corrupted, so we can try to determine
whether this is actually true or not. One web page had instructions for
NT about swapping in a debugging kernel and adding logging for errors in
user profiles, but I think we want something less complicated and risky
than that to put this theory to bed.

So, now what?

From MS

That's because there are a lot of buggy context menu handlers out =
there.=20
Some context menu handlers don't support Unicode;=20
others don't support Ansi. What's really fun is that instead=20
of returning E_NOTIMPL, they return S_OK but don't=20
actually do anything. Other context menus have buffer overflow=20
problems and write to the buffer beyond the actual size you =
specified.=20


And they all have to work together but buggy ones interfere with others.

Ramesh has found people he fixes have DivX and the other one. Noone I =
helped has had those two, Many people have bugs but down use the feature =
that shows the bugs (hangs are probably the rarest of the symptoms).
--=20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =
...
"David Candy" writes:
Anyway Ramesh TELLS you what to do. That's why you were talking about =
=3D
ShellEx program.
=20
Not knowing "Ramesh" I don't think he is TELLING me what to do.
I'll certainly go look at his directions, if you can let me know
where they are or exactly what you are talking about.
=20
Just curious, have you actually tried this and see that it fixes
the Windows Explorer problem that half a dozen people a day report?
=20
My comments about Shell Extensions were based on what I found when
someone else claimed that all the Shell Extensions were bad code
and responsible for all our problems, and that I should go disable
them to fix this. Who knows, maybe that was Ramesh." That didn't
work for me. But two individuals in the last hundred+ have reported
they did find one of these fixed a problem, based on the info I wrote
below.
=20
Thank you
=20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =3D
...
"=3D3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D3D?=3D3D" =
writes:
I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same =
=3D
problem,=3D20
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and Divx =
=3D
but I=3D20
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not experience =
=3D
any=3D20
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried =
using =3D
a=3D20
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have you =
=3D
heard of=3D20
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to fix =
=3D
the=3D20
problem?=3D20
=3D20
People have tried all sorts of incantations. Lots of people swear
it is this or it is that or this is the solution, none of which can
actually be verified as the real cause of this. Thus far I've
only seen a very small number (4 I think out of the hundred+ =
reporting
this) that have found any of the suggestions actually solved their
Windows Explorer problem. But if you hit something with a big
enough sledge hammer, who knows, it might work and nobody will ever
know why. At the moment I'm looking for tools that will actually
find and point out a flaw so we might narrow this down and get a fix
but thus far I haven't found anything.
=3D20
"Don Taylor" wrote:
"=3D3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D3D?=3D3D" =
=3D
writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, =
=3D
C:, A:, D:,=3D20
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and =
=3D
must shut=3D20
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--=3D20
Doc Payne
=3D20
If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I =
don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.
=3D20
But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.
=3D20
And, some find it will work when you create a new user and switch
to that user to try it.
=3D20
One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an =3D
answer.
=3D20
Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time
=3D20
Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to =
have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.
=3D20
Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything =
then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.
=3D20
You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that =
someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by =
temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside =
now.
=3D20
I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start =
accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you =3D
something
that does work then please report it.

(Assuming we are talking about the topic above) It's never been known =
for an inbuilt one to cause a problem. It is known for well known =
programs to. So backup (File - Export) then delete all non MS context =
menu extensions, (people normally want to argue here with me that =
program x can't possibly cause it and refuse - normally they only have 3 =
non MS so 1/3 chance).

There is a vague possibility of a corrupt file.

So post the exports of those keys.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\Con textMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandler s
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandle rs

If you can't work out what an entry is look up it's number here
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\long number\\InprocServer32

EG
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00000105-0000-0010-8000-00AA006D2EA4}\InprocServ=
er32

This says the file that is providing the program code.=20

Then delete the non MS one's.

Try right clicking a drive now. No rebooting needed.


You'll find the errors in profile loading here
C:\WINDOWS\Debug\UserMode\userenv.log
--=20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =
...
"David Candy" writes:
I do it with windows tools. Ramesh (http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k) =
does =3D
it with ShellExViewer as he believes it easier for you to follow. =3D
Everytime I worked with someone on this we've solved it.
=20
Wonderful. I have Windows Explorer locking up every time and refusing
any mouse clicks or keystrokes at all. Absolutely repeatable.
=20
Someone told me it was Shell Extensions that were the buggy source of =
all
the problems.
=20
I've already tried using ShellExView and disabled the entire 75 of =
those,
71 of them being Microsoft supplied, one was a little zip utility, one
was Norton, and one or two were RealPlayer. Tried disabling the Shell
Extensions one at a time, checking to see the problem persisted, =
finally
got tired of that and disabled all 75 at once. Problem remained. =
Turned
them all back on and had to clean up the details that weren't restored =
in
the user interface.
=20
Now, if you have have a different theory about what the problem of all
the Windows Explorer crashes and lockups, something better than this =
or
an alternative to this then I'm up for it. But I'd really like to see
some definitive way to test these context do-dads, some way to =
actually
confirm whether they have a bug, not just the usual "i dunno, try =
blowing
all this stuff away, and if that doesn't work then we'll think of =
sumpthin
else to blow away" trial and error shotgunning approach.
=20
In other words, bizzare as it might seem here, I'm really trying to =
find
a way to actually diagnose "yes, this specific item is the problem."
=20
It has always =3D
been a context menu extensions. These are notoriously difficult to =
write =3D
without bugs (MS is giving a big tutorial now on it for developers =3D
http://weblogs.asp.net/oldnewthing). So probably 50 people. But I =
can't =3D
bear to keep doing it so I ignore most of the questions. It usually =
=3D
fairly time consuming for me as people often don't give full info so I =
=3D
can deduct the location to look for the handler.
=20
Someone else told me it was all the fault of "corrupted user =
profiles",
that was really the cause of all the problems. I've been searching =
for
a tool that will validate a user profile and will display any errors =
in
one or will announce that it is not corrupted, so we can try to =
determine
whether this is actually true or not. One web page had instructions =
for
NT about swapping in a debugging kernel and adding logging for errors =
in
user profiles, but I think we want something less complicated and =
risky
than that to put this theory to bed.
=20
So, now what?
=20
From MS
=20
That's because there are a lot of buggy context menu handlers out =
=3D
there.=3D20
Some context menu handlers don't support Unicode;=3D20
others don't support Ansi. What's really fun is that instead=3D20
of returning E_NOTIMPL, they return S_OK but don't=3D20
actually do anything. Other context menus have buffer =
overflow=3D20
problems and write to the buffer beyond the actual size you =3D
specified.=3D20
=20
=20
And they all have to work together but buggy ones interfere with =
others.
=20
Ramesh has found people he fixes have DivX and the other one. Noone I =
=3D
helped has had those two, Many people have bugs but down use the =
feature =3D
that shows the bugs (hangs are probably the rarest of the symptoms).
--=3D20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =3D
...
"David Candy" writes:
Anyway Ramesh TELLS you what to do. That's why you were talking =
about =3D
=3D3D
ShellEx program.
=3D20
Not knowing "Ramesh" I don't think he is TELLING me what to do.
I'll certainly go look at his directions, if you can let me know
where they are or exactly what you are talking about.
=3D20
Just curious, have you actually tried this and see that it fixes
the Windows Explorer problem that half a dozen people a day report?
=3D20
My comments about Shell Extensions were based on what I found when
someone else claimed that all the Shell Extensions were bad code
and responsible for all our problems, and that I should go disable
them to fix this. Who knows, maybe that was Ramesh." That didn't
work for me. But two individuals in the last hundred+ have reported
they did find one of these fixed a problem, based on the info I =
wrote
below.
=3D20
Thank you
=3D20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =3D3D
...
"=3D3D3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D3D3D?=3D3D3D" =
=3D
writes:
I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same =
=3D
=3D3D
problem,=3D3D20
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and =
Divx =3D
=3D3D
but I=3D3D20
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not =
experience =3D
=3D3D
any=3D3D20
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried =
=3D
using =3D3D
a=3D3D20
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have =
you =3D
=3D3D
heard of=3D3D20
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to =
fix =3D
=3D3D
the=3D3D20
problem?=3D3D20
=3D3D20
People have tried all sorts of incantations. Lots of people swear
it is this or it is that or this is the solution, none of which =
can
actually be verified as the real cause of this. Thus far I've
only seen a very small number (4 I think out of the hundred+ =3D
reporting
this) that have found any of the suggestions actually solved their
Windows Explorer problem. But if you hit something with a big
enough sledge hammer, who knows, it might work and nobody will =
ever
know why. At the moment I'm looking for tools that will actually
find and point out a flaw so we might narrow this down and get a =
fix
but thus far I haven't found anything.
=3D3D20
"Don Taylor" wrote:
"=3D3D3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D3D3D?=3D3D3D" =3D
=3D3D
writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any =
drive, =3D
=3D3D
C:, A:, D:,=3D3D20
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error =
and =3D
=3D3D
must shut=3D3D20
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--=3D3D20
Doc Payne
=3D3D20
If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar =
problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks =
are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some =
claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I =
=3D
don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.
=3D3D20
But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.
=3D3D20
And, some find it will work when you create a new user and =
switch
to that user to try it.
=3D3D20
One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an =
=3D3D
answer.
=3D3D20
Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time
=3D3D20
Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is =
responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to =
=3D
have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.
=3D3D20
Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets =
that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything =
=3D
then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once =
and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying =
that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.
=3D3D20
You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can =
find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have =
some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that =3D
someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by =3D
temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it =
seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they =
still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that =
in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside =
=3D
now.
=3D3D20
I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start =3D
accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you =
=3D3D
something
that does work then please report it.

FIXED!!!!!!!

Well, I went in and deleted all of the non-MS keys in:


HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandler s\......

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandle rs\....

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\Con textMenuHandlers...

And now I no longer have a "Right Clicking" Problem. I couldn't beleive
it!! Now I can right click on any drive I want to and everything works as it
should. I am going to re-insert each .reg key that I deleted, one at a time,
and figure out which one is the culprit. I will post it soon!! Just give me a
few minutes and I'll make another post.

"David Candy" wrote:

(Assuming we are talking about the topic above) It's never been known for an inbuilt one to cause a problem. It is known for well known programs to. So backup (File - Export) then delete all non MS context menu extensions, (people normally want to argue here with me that program x can't possibly cause it and refuse - normally they only have 3 non MS so 1/3 chance).

There is a vague possibility of a corrupt file.

So post the exports of those keys.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\Con textMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandler s
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandle rs

If you can't work out what an entry is look up it's number here
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\long number\\InprocServer32

EG
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00000105-0000-0010-8000-00AA006D2EA4}\InprocServer32

This says the file that is providing the program code.

Then delete the non MS one's.

Try right clicking a drive now. No rebooting needed.


You'll find the errors in profile loading here
C:\WINDOWS\Debug\UserMode\userenv.log
--
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message ...
"David Candy" writes:
I do it with windows tools. Ramesh (http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k) does =
it with ShellExViewer as he believes it easier for you to follow. =
Everytime I worked with someone on this we've solved it.

Wonderful. I have Windows Explorer locking up every time and refusing
any mouse clicks or keystrokes at all. Absolutely repeatable.

Someone told me it was Shell Extensions that were the buggy source of all
the problems.

I've already tried using ShellExView and disabled the entire 75 of those,
71 of them being Microsoft supplied, one was a little zip utility, one
was Norton, and one or two were RealPlayer. Tried disabling the Shell
Extensions one at a time, checking to see the problem persisted, finally
got tired of that and disabled all 75 at once. Problem remained. Turned
them all back on and had to clean up the details that weren't restored in
the user interface.

Now, if you have have a different theory about what the problem of all
the Windows Explorer crashes and lockups, something better than this or
an alternative to this then I'm up for it. But I'd really like to see
some definitive way to test these context do-dads, some way to actually
confirm whether they have a bug, not just the usual "i dunno, try blowing
all this stuff away, and if that doesn't work then we'll think of sumpthin
else to blow away" trial and error shotgunning approach.

In other words, bizzare as it might seem here, I'm really trying to find
a way to actually diagnose "yes, this specific item is the problem."

It has always =
been a context menu extensions. These are notoriously difficult to write =
without bugs (MS is giving a big tutorial now on it for developers =
http://weblogs.asp.net/oldnewthing). So probably 50 people. But I can't =
bear to keep doing it so I ignore most of the questions. It usually =
fairly time consuming for me as people often don't give full info so I =
can deduct the location to look for the handler.

Someone else told me it was all the fault of "corrupted user profiles",
that was really the cause of all the problems. I've been searching for
a tool that will validate a user profile and will display any errors in
one or will announce that it is not corrupted, so we can try to determine
whether this is actually true or not. One web page had instructions for
NT about swapping in a debugging kernel and adding logging for errors in
user profiles, but I think we want something less complicated and risky
than that to put this theory to bed.

So, now what?

From MS

That's because there are a lot of buggy context menu handlers out =
there.=20
Some context menu handlers don't support Unicode;=20
others don't support Ansi. What's really fun is that instead=20
of returning E_NOTIMPL, they return S_OK but don't=20
actually do anything. Other context menus have buffer overflow=20
problems and write to the buffer beyond the actual size you =
specified.=20


And they all have to work together but buggy ones interfere with others.

Ramesh has found people he fixes have DivX and the other one. Noone I =
helped has had those two, Many people have bugs but down use the feature =
that shows the bugs (hangs are probably the rarest of the symptoms).
--=20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =
...
"David Candy" writes:
Anyway Ramesh TELLS you what to do. That's why you were talking about =
=3D
ShellEx program.
=20
Not knowing "Ramesh" I don't think he is TELLING me what to do.
I'll certainly go look at his directions, if you can let me know
where they are or exactly what you are talking about.
=20
Just curious, have you actually tried this and see that it fixes
the Windows Explorer problem that half a dozen people a day report?
=20
My comments about Shell Extensions were based on what I found when
someone else claimed that all the Shell Extensions were bad code
and responsible for all our problems, and that I should go disable
them to fix this. Who knows, maybe that was Ramesh." That didn't
work for me. But two individuals in the last hundred+ have reported
they did find one of these fixed a problem, based on the info I wrote
below.
=20
Thank you
=20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =3D
...
"=3D3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D3D?=3D3D" =
writes:
I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same =
=3D
problem,=3D20
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and Divx =
=3D
but I=3D20
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not experience =
=3D
any=3D20
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried =
using =3D
a=3D20
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have you =
=3D
heard of=3D20
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to fix =
=3D
the=3D20
problem?=3D20
=3D20
People have tried all sorts of incantations. Lots of people swear
it is this or it is that or this is the solution, none of which can
actually be verified as the real cause of this. Thus far I've
only seen a very small number (4 I think out of the hundred+ =
reporting
this) that have found any of the suggestions actually solved their
Windows Explorer problem. But if you hit something with a big
enough sledge hammer, who knows, it might work and nobody will ever
know why. At the moment I'm looking for tools that will actually
find and point out a flaw so we might narrow this down and get a fix
but thus far I haven't found anything.
=3D20
"Don Taylor" wrote:
"=3D3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D3D?=3D3D" =
=3D
writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, =
=3D
C:, A:, D:,=3D20
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and =
=3D
must shut=3D20
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--=3D20
Doc Payne
=3D20
If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I =
don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.
=3D20
But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.
=3D20
And, some find it will work when you create a new user and switch
to that user to try it.
=3D20
One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an =3D
answer.
=3D20
Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time
=3D20
Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to =
have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.
=3D20
Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything =
then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.
=3D20
You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that =
someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by =
temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside =
now.
=3D20
I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start =
accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you =3D
something
that does work then please report it.

It Was the "Spy Sweeper" Shellex causing my problem. I had made a .reg file
of all the keys that I deleted and , one by one, double clicked on them and
checked my problem again. after I re-entered the "Spy Sweeper" .reg key my
problem re-appeared. So I deleted it again, and checked my problem again
(right clicking on a drive in "My Computer"), the problem went away again.

I just want to thank everyone for their posts. Your advice helped me a great
deal. Thank you very much!! A job well done!!!

"DocMP" wrote:

FIXED!!!!!!!

Well, I went in and deleted all of the non-MS keys in:


HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandler s\......

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandle rs\....

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\Con textMenuHandlers...

And now I no longer have a "Right Clicking" Problem. I couldn't beleive
it!! Now I can right click on any drive I want to and everything works as it
should. I am going to re-insert each .reg key that I deleted, one at a time,
and figure out which one is the culprit. I will post it soon!! Just give me a
few minutes and I'll make another post.

"David Candy" wrote:

(Assuming we are talking about the topic above) It's never been known for an inbuilt one to cause a problem. It is known for well known programs to. So backup (File - Export) then delete all non MS context menu extensions, (people normally want to argue here with me that program x can't possibly cause it and refuse - normally they only have 3 non MS so 1/3 chance).

There is a vague possibility of a corrupt file.

So post the exports of those keys.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AllFilesystemObjects\shellex\Con textMenuHandlers
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandler s
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandle rs

If you can't work out what an entry is look up it's number here
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\long number\\InprocServer32

EG
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{00000105-0000-0010-8000-00AA006D2EA4}\InprocServer32

This says the file that is providing the program code.

Then delete the non MS one's.

Try right clicking a drive now. No rebooting needed.


You'll find the errors in profile loading here
C:\WINDOWS\Debug\UserMode\userenv.log
--
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message ...
"David Candy" writes:
I do it with windows tools. Ramesh (http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k) does =
it with ShellExViewer as he believes it easier for you to follow. =
Everytime I worked with someone on this we've solved it.

Wonderful. I have Windows Explorer locking up every time and refusing
any mouse clicks or keystrokes at all. Absolutely repeatable.

Someone told me it was Shell Extensions that were the buggy source of all
the problems.

I've already tried using ShellExView and disabled the entire 75 of those,
71 of them being Microsoft supplied, one was a little zip utility, one
was Norton, and one or two were RealPlayer. Tried disabling the Shell
Extensions one at a time, checking to see the problem persisted, finally
got tired of that and disabled all 75 at once. Problem remained. Turned
them all back on and had to clean up the details that weren't restored in
the user interface.

Now, if you have have a different theory about what the problem of all
the Windows Explorer crashes and lockups, something better than this or
an alternative to this then I'm up for it. But I'd really like to see
some definitive way to test these context do-dads, some way to actually
confirm whether they have a bug, not just the usual "i dunno, try blowing
all this stuff away, and if that doesn't work then we'll think of sumpthin
else to blow away" trial and error shotgunning approach.

In other words, bizzare as it might seem here, I'm really trying to find
a way to actually diagnose "yes, this specific item is the problem."

It has always =
been a context menu extensions. These are notoriously difficult to write =
without bugs (MS is giving a big tutorial now on it for developers =
http://weblogs.asp.net/oldnewthing). So probably 50 people. But I can't =
bear to keep doing it so I ignore most of the questions. It usually =
fairly time consuming for me as people often don't give full info so I =
can deduct the location to look for the handler.

Someone else told me it was all the fault of "corrupted user profiles",
that was really the cause of all the problems. I've been searching for
a tool that will validate a user profile and will display any errors in
one or will announce that it is not corrupted, so we can try to determine
whether this is actually true or not. One web page had instructions for
NT about swapping in a debugging kernel and adding logging for errors in
user profiles, but I think we want something less complicated and risky
than that to put this theory to bed.

So, now what?

From MS

That's because there are a lot of buggy context menu handlers out =
there.=20
Some context menu handlers don't support Unicode;=20
others don't support Ansi. What's really fun is that instead=20
of returning E_NOTIMPL, they return S_OK but don't=20
actually do anything. Other context menus have buffer overflow=20
problems and write to the buffer beyond the actual size you =
specified.=20


And they all have to work together but buggy ones interfere with others.

Ramesh has found people he fixes have DivX and the other one. Noone I =
helped has had those two, Many people have bugs but down use the feature =
that shows the bugs (hangs are probably the rarest of the symptoms).
--=20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =
...
"David Candy" writes:
Anyway Ramesh TELLS you what to do. That's why you were talking about =
=3D
ShellEx program.
=20
Not knowing "Ramesh" I don't think he is TELLING me what to do.
I'll certainly go look at his directions, if you can let me know
where they are or exactly what you are talking about.
=20
Just curious, have you actually tried this and see that it fixes
the Windows Explorer problem that half a dozen people a day report?
=20
My comments about Shell Extensions were based on what I found when
someone else claimed that all the Shell Extensions were bad code
and responsible for all our problems, and that I should go disable
them to fix this. Who knows, maybe that was Ramesh." That didn't
work for me. But two individuals in the last hundred+ have reported
they did find one of these fixed a problem, based on the info I wrote
below.
=20
Thank you
=20
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.uscricket.com
"Don Taylor" wrote in message =3D
...
"=3D3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D3D?=3D3D" =
writes:
I do have SP2 installed but it I uninstalled it and I had the same =
=3D
problem,=3D20
so I reinstalled SP2. I also do have Spy Sweeper installed and Divx =
=3D
but I=3D20
also have both of them installed on my laptop and do not experience =
=3D
any=3D20
problems with it. Both systems have XP Pro SP2. I haven't tried =
using =3D
a=3D20
different user but I will. This is a very annoying problem. Have you =
=3D
heard of=3D20
anyone that has had this problem doing a fresh install of XP to fix =
=3D
the=3D20
problem?=3D20
=3D20
People have tried all sorts of incantations. Lots of people swear
it is this or it is that or this is the solution, none of which can
actually be verified as the real cause of this. Thus far I've
only seen a very small number (4 I think out of the hundred+ =
reporting
this) that have found any of the suggestions actually solved their
Windows Explorer problem. But if you hit something with a big
enough sledge hammer, who knows, it might work and nobody will ever
know why. At the moment I'm looking for tools that will actually
find and point out a flaw so we might narrow this down and get a fix
but thus far I haven't found anything.
=3D20
"Don Taylor" wrote:
"=3D3D?Utf-8?B?RG9jTVA=3D3D?=3D3D" =
=3D
writes:
If I go to start|My Computer| and then right click on any drive, =
=3D
C:, A:, D:,=3D20
ect., the message, "Windows Explorer has encountered an error and =
=3D
must shut=3D20
down", appears. Anybody have any advise on a fix?
--=3D20
Doc Payne
=3D20
If you have recently installed SP2 on your computer then
there have been a string of folks reporting very similar problems
to what you are reporting. Some find that anything which uses
Windows Explorer (Recycle bin, folder shortcuts, control panel,
etc) all have a similar problem. Some find that right clicks are
their major problem. Some find any click. Some find it crashes
on open. Some find it refuses any clicks. There are some claims
but I've been scanning the thousands of postings on SP2 and I =
don't
think you will find any with "the fix" for this, at least yet.
=3D20
But, some find it will work when you boot in safe mode.
=3D20
And, some find it will work when you create a new user and switch
to that user to try it.
=3D20
One of those might be a temporary work-around till you get an =3D
answer.
=3D20
Some claim it is all spyware and viruses but I haven't seen any
posting that confirmed this for the Windows Explorer problem.
I carefully and repeatedly checked, no viruses or spyware and my
windows explorer locks up every time
=3D20
Some claim it is Divx or Spy Sweeper installed that is responsible
for this but others have it, don't have those and some seem to =
have
those and have no problem. I don't and it locks up.
=3D20
Some claim it is "ShellExtensions", little accessory gadgets that
sort of script extra cute features. The advice for that is to
install free ShellExView and to try (carefully) disabling these
features one at a time, if turning one off doesn't do anything =
then
turn it back on and try again. I did that with all 75 at once and
it made no difference at all. One person sent me mail saying that
disabling one extension he had did appear to fix his problem.
=3D20
You can escalate to Microsoft, go to
support.microsoft.com/windowsxpsp2
and give them all the details and clues and patterns you can find.
There is no guarantee that their analysis or directions will be
correct or even not make it worse. They told me I must "have some
corrupted files, repair windows back to install state and then
reinstall SP2 twice while in Safe mode." Before I did that =
someone
posted the "switch user" workaround that let me get by =
temporarily.
I sent email saying that if it worked for one user then it seemed
less likely it was "some corrupted files" and asked if they still
wanted me to blow windows away. They have not reponded to that in
a number of days now. But I can imagine what it is like inside =
now.
=3D20
I hope this helps. If someone tells you to try something and it
doesn't help then please make a posting so we can start =
accumulating
what suggestions don't do any good. And if someone tells you =3D
something
that does work then please report it.