Explorer.exe Crashing

Layback Bear said:

Welcome Luger. I would run sfc /scannow to see if those little nasty have change anything in you system files. If a problem is found run it two more times. Then if it was my computer I would again run full scans with MAM and SAS just to make sure things are okay. If you had any information about your finances, banking, Paypal, ebay, ect I would recommend changing your passwords.

Yeah I didn't navigate to any important sites since the problem started. Pretty much only this forum --> am I still at risk?

So I ran the Full Scans w/ MBAM and Spyware Doctor over night. I think Spyware Doc finished first and restarted my computer because I can't find the log from MBAM. It came back clean yet again though.

But here's the fun part: explorer.exe is crashing again! So the original problem is back, having apparently needed a break from ******* w/ me and now, fully rested, is back to raise my blood pressure once again. I'm running some scans again (Quick Scans coming back clean) and will try sfc /scannow again as well.

I do have Restore Points available this time though, so worst comes to worst, I can restore to yesterday and see if its working. I'd like to try to figure this out some other way though so it doesn't keep happening. Where is the actual explorer.exe located?

Have you tried installing a clean copy of explorer.exe from your system files? If this doesn't help you might have to try a Repair Install assuming you're absolutely sure all traces of any malware have been removed.

Open TasK Manager > Processes tab
Highlight (left click) on explorer.exe (not to be confused with iexplore.exe)
Click End Process button, then End Process again on warning prompt
All desktop icons will disappear
Click File (upper left of Task Manager dialog box) > New Task (Run...)
In the Create New Task dialog box type in explorer.exe > OK
All desktop icons will reappear within a few seconds

If this doesn't help I'd try a Repair Install but I don't think you'll have any better luck because it would seem that more than just your system files are damaged or corrupt. If that's the case, and to be sure that all traces of any malware are removed, you might have no choice but to do a clean install from a system image, hidden recovery partition, or install media.

Clean Install Windows 7

Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

marsmimar said:

Open TasK Manager > Processes tab
Highlight (left click) on explorer.exe (not to be confused with iexplore.exe)
Click End Process button, then End Process again on warning prompt
All desktop icons will disappear
Click File (upper left of Task Manager dialog box) > New Task (Run...)
In the Create New Task dialog box type in explorer.exe > OK
All desktop icons will reappear within a few seconds

I've essentially been living out of Task Manager the past two days on this computer (launching anti-spyware apps, getting to Control Panel, etc), so I was aware of explorer.exe's crazy behavior (starting, crashing, disappearing from processes, restarting, reappearing, crashing, disappearing, etc.). Launching a new version never helped. Thank you though.

In other news...

Success! (for now)

I found the AppCrashView tool on the web and ran it on my Desktop. I had to scroll through a LONG list of explorer.exe crashes it reported, but I eventually got to the first one from two days ago. The report generated this:

explorer.exe Stopped working 6/11/2011 11:07:24 AM 0xc0000005 0x0009b890 DivXMFSource.dll 1.0.0.72

So I Googled "DivXMFSource.dll" and the first result was:

Codec Guide • View topic - DivXMFSource.dll causes Explorer to crash

Just started noticing this today, after downloading this movie off of Vodo. Now explorer crashes whenever I try to do something with the folder, including highlighting it or trying to right click it. I was able to navigate in and watch Sintel with no real problems, but now it's crashing like crazy. I've looked at my event logs and it appears to be an issue with DivXMFSource.dll.

So this guy essentially had the exact same issue - watched a movie then explorer.exe went freaking crazy, so I assumed this had to be it. That fine gentlemen uninstalled DivX entirely, but I just went to the DivX folder and deleted the specific .dll causing the problem (probably will cause issues w/ DivX, but I'm not too worried about that atm). Used CCleaner to wipe it away from my recycle bin, then launched explorer.exe and it didn't crash! All the other times I launched a new version, it crashed right away, so I'm assuming I'm good now.

Of course, if it starts crashing again, I'll be back here. As annoying as this was, at least I'm confident my system wasn't compromised and that all my ASW / AV software is working correctly.

Thanks everyone who replied to this - very nice community you guys got here.

Layback Bear said:

I would not use bittorrent Vodo. This can cause all kinds of problems.

I don't, that was the other guy. Just that my problem started after watching a video file like his did.

Glad to hear the promising news. Hope this is the permanent fix you've been looking for. And congrats on your troubleshooting!