Constant Explorer/thumbnail crash. MSVCR80.dll culprit? How to fix?

Hi Callender. Thanks for your replies.

Attached are two of the most recent DMP files in one Zip file. One file is from User A and one from User B, after a crash (I would assume they both read the same, but maybe not?).

I tried to read them myself before sending using dumpchk prompt command, but the data is more than the cmd window allows, i.e., I could only see the last half or so of the report. Not sure how to fix it so I can see the entire report, so I am hopeful these attached files will suffice.

On the second question, um, I only use Windows Update and rely on my software, e.g., Adobe Creative Suite, MS Office, Kaspersky, etc. to alert me when something needs updating. As for drivers, I use some utility built inside Advanced System Care to review and download what is needed.

Thanks again for your input!

Callender: You noted this:

FAULTING_SOURCE_LINE:
F:\dd\vctools\crt_bld\self_64_amd64\crt\src\tcscpy_s.inlFAULTING_SOURCE_FILE:
F:\dd\vctools\crt_bld\self_64_amd64\crt\src\tcscpy_s.inl

The reference to F:\ drive is interesting. It’s a peripheral backup drive. My main drive is good old C:\. Hmm. That’s interesting. I will have to see if that is a hidden folder.

As for “Try a clean startup,” I did that a day or two ago. Or should I try it again, having updated all C++ references?

Regarding your other suggestions, thanks. I will not be able to try them until Monday.

Raner4: Thanks very much for the input. I will remove all of it ASAP. Is there a simple program that allows me to monitor drivers?

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR INPUT!

Ranger4: Thanks. FYI, I uninstalled Advanced System Care in its entirety.

Callender: Thanks again. FYI, Adobe After Effects was a program that I uninstalled years ago. Now only two related files exist: an XML file was found at: “C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\After Effects\10.0.” I deleted the folder. I also found a 3KB Adobe After Effects file, “CS5 10.2.2 11-2011.log.gz” existed at “C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Installer.” I deleted that file, and after a search, found no references in the Windows 7 Registry.

Next steps were as suggested: Using GeekUninstaller I deleted older, incidental programs I did need. I used AutoRuns to run a scan. There was nothing that looked like a problem in the Explorer tab ... or the other tabs for that matter. I tried the Clean Boot idea one more time.

Restart: no change. Damn!
User A (thumbs only, no icons showing) crashed immediately.
User B (icons only, no thumbs showing) works as before.

Then I had an idea: Maybe the crash is resulting from a corrupt file (or files) in the My Documents folder(s) that Sage Thumbs (or whatever else that also reviews the thumbnails) looks at once Explorer starts. I set “User A” to have its own exact copy of User B’s My Documents folder. As a test of my idea, I deleted all the files inside User A’s My Documents folder and restarted the computer.

Bingo! User A’s Explorer — with Sage Thumbs running — kept going after startup. As a test I poked around all the My Documents folders from User B, and saw all those rendered thumbnails in their entirety — as things should be. Trying to get Explorer to crash, I looked all over the place ... into work folders full of all sorts of Adobe Creative Suite files, PDFs, raster files, web browser URLs, etc. It would not crash.

Encouraged, I was starting to think the original problem stemmed from a few files inside the myriad of folders and files residing in the My Documents folder. Something must be giving Sage Thumbs (or something else that handles file links/icons/aliases) a problem that it cannot get past, resulting in a crash every time it gets “referenced”(?) by Explorer. Note: last week I deleted Sage Thumbs and reinstalled it just to see if it was the problem. Nothing changed.

With things looking up, I decided to log out of User A and log in as User B (set for no thumbs, only icons), and turn ON the option to turn icons into thumbnails. I click OK ... instantly Explorer crashed. Arrrrgh!

I went back to Safe Mode to reset User B to “icons only,” and restarted. I logged into User A (which, if you recall, had been working again after deleting all contents in its My Documents). It crashed immediately. Damn, I was back to the beginning.

(Note: new dump files are attached for both crashes.)

What the heck happened? I am running out of patience. I will just reinstall Windows 7 and start all over—which will take me days to reload everything—if I cannot soon find the file or files that is corrupting the system.

Is there a utility that can pinpoint the errant file(s) or folder(s)?

If you read this far, thanks very much for your time and interest ... and, just possibly, an idea.