Windows 7: Win7 Taskbar.

Hi.

When i press the start button sometimes it doesn't take me to the menu, it just does nothing at all. It stalls and then I have to choose to 'close the program' from the recovery options that come up. It dissapears completely along with icons and then comes back after 15 seconds or so.



It is frustrating and there are also 2 new things that might relate.

A lot of the time I am on Firefox I get 'internet explorer has stopped working' ? I never use IE, does it run underneath everything somehow? I don't get it.

There is also a general stall every so often where the little spinning circle spins, I can't remember that happening in the past.

I have run malware and other programs but got no results.

Does this remind anyone of anything?

Thanks for your help in advance, Ste.

firefox is not linked to the taskbar, or explorer. have you updated to the latest firefox.

for your explorer issue,
you could try running a sfc/scan to see if that helps
run it three time and reebot between each run...

SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

Will do that, thanks, Ste.

When you get done doing what boohbah has suggested. If you get another error please note whether it's for Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer. (I.E. 8 or I.E. 9)

My guess would be " Windows Explorer " has stopped working...

I agree Jacee. I just don't want to go chasing in the wrong direction. If it is Windows Explorer boohbah suggestion could fix the problem.

There's this: Error: Windows Explorer has stopped working

and then there's this: Fix Windows 7 SP1 Windows Explorer Crashes - Softpedia

Links from the above article
Windows 7 x86: Download Update for Windows 7 (KB2515325) from Official Microsoft Download Center
Windows 7 x64:Download Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2515325) from Official Microsoft Download Center

I thought there was a MS Fixit, but couldn't find it in a search.

I also thought there was an Explorer Troubleshooter in Control Panel, but again not found
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Troubleshooting

I hope these links provide some useful information in solving the issue. I'd look a little deeper into the softpedia referenced links.

Thanks to all, will get to this asap.

Hello again.

I'm just about to implement the above suggestions tonight and I want to mention one thing to see what you think.

When I click on an icon in the taskbar, say Word or Fl Studio or even FFox, the task bar completely dissapears for 2 - 3 seconds and then comes back and the I get the error message 'Windows explorer is not working' then it says restart -close - or wait for the program to respond.

Is Win explorer running underneath everything all the time?

Is there a way to shut it off for good?

Don't know if this is a common thing, cheers for your ideas, Ste.

Perhaps this brief explanation of explorer.exe will help;

Windows Explorer is the process "explorer.exe" which creates any window you use (Control Panel, going through files ((which, includes "My Pictures"...)) and the task bar. Explorer is a necessary component in using the operating system because it is the shell/GUI of Windows.

HTH