Windows 7 - Win7 x64 Crashes on Internet Access or File Access

Hi all,

So i'm writing this from Safe Mode with Networking as that seems to be the only way to keep the system stable.

I was working on my computer last night with zero problems. I shut it down and then today I have the following symptoms.

Once i boot, i can open folders on the desktop and open my firewall status etc. However as soon as i click on Firefox, open My computer and select any of the hard drives, or click on the Start menu and start to type in the search field, Windows 7 will freeze and explorer.exe will eventually crash without an error report.

It will simply tell me to end the process, after which i can only view the wallpaper and nothing else works. (No right click menu etc).

When in Safe Mode with Networking, everything works as expected. I can run firefox, navigate all 3 harddrives and search in the start menu.

I'm currently running a Malwarebyte's scan but i'm not sure if i really expect to find anything.

Any idea what it could be and maybe some suggestions to track this down?

Thanks!

You can use msconfig to help you diagnose the problem. Type msconfig in search and chose diagnostic startup (see pic). If that works you can then start adding startup item till you find the one that is causing the problem.

Let us know if you need help

Well it's fixed now, thought I'm not 100% sure the issue.

I basically went in Safe Mode and downloaded the latest version of my Firewall/AV Comodo and made a shortcut to windows update on the desktop.

Uninstalled my existing Firewall/AV and rebooted.

Ran Windows Update, and reinstalled the new Firewall/AV and now everythings working just fine.

Random though...

Thanks for the help!