Windows Explorer is not responding message won't go away

Hello guys,

I just registered to this site in hopes that you guys could help me with a serious issue I am running into.

The issue is I get a message that constantly appears saying "Windows Explorer is not responding" which I have seen before and closed fine, however this message will never go away. Even if I select cancel or close it, it closes then immediately appears again and just continues to go through this process forever so I am never able to select anything.

I believe the reason this is, is because I downloaded a file that won't delete, the moment the file got done downloading this "Windows Explorer is not responding" message appeared and I am not able to delete this file.

The only way I can get the message to not appear so I can actually play around with the PC is in safe mode, the problem with that is I can't delete the file in safe mode.

What I have tried so far: (Keep in mind everything I have to do, is in Safe Mode because I am not able to do anything in normal windows because the message always appears and I can't click or do anything)

1. Rename the file, when I do this in safe mode the computer just locks up
2. Just deleting the file

It shows "Preparing to Recycle" from Discovering items
Time remaining: Calculating
Items remaining : Calculating
speed: Calculating

3. Cutting the file and placing it on a usb stick (Same as above)
4. I downloaded Unlocker and LockHunter (I think that is the name) and neither of them work when I try in Safe Mode.

Any help or ideas would be great! thanks!

Thanks for the reply Layback Bear, I was able to get it removed by following a youtube link someone made.

Process

My Computer > Organize Tab > Folder and Search Options > View Tab > Select Always Show Icons, never thumbnails > Apply

Once I did this the message went away and I was able to then put the infected file in LockHunter and delete it, then I just did what I said above and and unchecked the box for Always Show Icons and it works fine with no problems.

Do you have any third party codecs installed on your machine? These can often cause explorer to hang and freeze when attempting to thumbnail them, which you've identified by changing the default option to show thumbnail icons.