Right Click on desktop causing Explorer.exe crash!!!

[cmpugay]

I'm also facing similar issues. When I right click on Desktop icons, it shows busy sign and then a message appears Windows Explorer stopped working and then another popup and this keeps going.

Regards

Rakesh

 

[Rouphen]

Noooo!! New explorer crashes in my PC. This time, the problems returned when I opened WMP12, and not before. For me, it's totally clear that the matter of all this crashes is deeply related with Windows 7 structrure.

 

[Lucky098]

It worked fine - no crashing since last week included update from MS. sorry you got the problems so try CCleaner or TuneUp 2010 software to clean it up and uninstall any drivers like mouse, video card,etc.. then re-download latest version then install by use "run as admin" and see if it work. I didnt switch off IE8 as it has been updated but I used Firefox 3.6 Beta 4 without private browsing and install lots of Big Fish Games (my favour is Hidden Object) and Nikon Tool for transfer from my D5000 digital camera that all of it are working prefect - no crashing - i kept click right button quite a lots... I still think it could be AV you use cos when I installed KIS 2010 then the Russian team update "a" as fix patch that seem working fine.. Could be softwares you install so see if there any update new version.. Im glad my PC sorted it out completed so hope you do the same as well

 

[Mr Smiley]

For those still experiencing issues, as mentioned in one of my earlier posts, leave IE8 enabled, but go into the 'Addon' option and disable Microsoft's 'Research' and 'Discuss' addons within IE8 and see if that helps.

I'm sorry some of you are still having problems. I can only tell you what I've done to rectify the issue on my PC which still remains 'crash-free'. I really wish I could figure out why some of yours are still having issues.

Oh well, we'll keep trying for you. All of your feedback and comments are very important so keep them coming.

Neil (Mr Smiley)

 

[papahood]

Mr. Smiley i noticed that you are running same version as me and quicklaunch was not included in this version of windows. As far as i can tell you just have to pin stuff to taskbar to make it look like quicklaunch... As far as the crashing is concerned still no crashing here since i made the change to private browsing. I wish i could say i've done more but that's it..with that being said if i do experience another crash i will certainly let everyone know that disabling private browsing didn't work...but for now seems to be working

 

[Rouphen]

IE8 enabled, but ALL IE Addons disabled (included Kaspersky, Windows Live and Adobe extensions). For the moment, even with WMP12 running or the QuickLaunch activated, the OS looks stable. Now I'm doing hundreds of right-clicks to test this suggestion.

Two weeks ago I tested Windows 7 Ultimate x64 a few days, and it worked fine, without crashes. Looks like each version has its own way of working, and probably Ultimate versions are more stable.

 

[cvor]

OK - it's been a day without an error. I did 3 things:

1. Uninstalled IE Explorer and Media Center and used CCleaner to clean the Registry
2. Removed WinRar 64 Bit (was using the recent version)
3. Stopped using Private Browsing (it now remembers my history) in Firefox

It's only been a day so who knows. I'll give it a couple days and then add #1 and #2 back. I have a feeling it is Firefox Private Browsing.... at least for me. I also have a feeling some others may find a different culprit. Ultimately, I don't think MS should allow software to affect it's OS in such a way. I wonder how long they will point the finger but when it's all said and done, a fundamental aspect of their OS is being compromised by some pretty popular software. Some people are trying to get the Mozilla people involved, but really it's MS. How can they allow their OS to be affected in such a manner? It's like having a virus.

 

[papahood]

You could probably disable remembering your history as well if you wanted. When i disabled private browsing i also unchecked remember history as well

 

[TomasWin7]

I went in and forcefully disabled Private Browsing (to see if it would help) on a fresh install of Firefox 3.5.5 and I have NOT had a right click crash in 1.5 days

I am not confident in saying this helped until at least 7 days...I have been through that one before!

What is the function of private browsing in Firefox interacting with within Windows 7?

 

[Dazeon]

Hello again,

Can I ask that all those that are experiencing this issue, and believe it to be caused by Firefox, please leave a comment/post here:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=518412

You may have to register with Bugzilla but it only takes a moment and would be well worth it, if anything it may get Mozilla talking to Microsoft.

The Mozilla developers are listening to an extent, they just need more people that can ideally reproduce the issue, or at the very least people who have experienced this issue and blame Firefox.

I'm pretty sure that my Windows Explorer issue is caused by Firefox, whether as a result of something in their code, or Microsoft.
I'm trying my hardest not to lay blame, but the list of culprits is getting pretty thin on the ground.

Mozilla did suggest, albeit in a round about way, that using Internet Explorer in the meantime would be a possible workaround. However, IMHO, if they choose to remain blameless (which without proper repro is fair enough) as do Microsoft, then basically what they're saying is just ditch Firefox.

There's something about this that just doesn't sit right for me, after all, Internet Explorer and Chrome seem to handle their own private browsing feature just fine, without bringing down Windows Explorer.

Also, I sent an e-mail to the developers of WinRAR, basically asking if they had heard or had any reports regarding this issue, whilst the developer who got back to me said not, he was by no means dismissive of the issue and offered, very kindly, to follow up on it with me. It was certainly a much more positive and helpful experience compared to that which I have sured with Microsoft and Mozilla.

So again, if you think it could be WinRAR, or can reproduce this issue with WinRAR, then please contact their developers.

Going back to Firefox, they did ask what version I was using, which was 3.5.5 and now 3.6b3. They then asked if I could reproduce the issue using 3.5 or 3.5.1 which I am yet to test.

Sadly, the killer in all of this is, when I try to get a repro, like the work I did with some fellow people on here using WinDbg with explorer.exe, it wouldn't play ball.
Again, trying to get a stack using WinDbg and Firefox, it just will not crash.
I'm not a programmer, but if I didn't know better, whatever hook WinDbg sticks in explorer or Firefox seems to cure the problem?

We'll get there eventually I guess.

I'm half-thinking about setting up a site about this, in order to gain more exposure.
At the moment there are threads and posts all over the place, here, Neowin, My Digital Life, Mozilla, Microsoft Answers, Microsoft Technet etc.

Still no 100% working solution.
Just a load of posts blaming everything from Firefox to WinRAR, from CCleaner to Internet Explorer.

 

[Dazeon]

Here's a new one I've never seen before:

View attachment 38849

I was messing about uninstalling some stuff (mainly updating WinRAR to the latest beta, updating CCleaner, and trying Firefox 3.6b4) and I right-clicked in the Start Menu on 'Computer' and bang, I got that error, which I have never seen before.

Out of curiosity, who has a Bluetooth device on their computer, i.e. a dongle/USB/card?

I'm probably clutching at straws here but I thought I'd best check as it's a whole new dynamic (at least for me) on the dreaded right-click issue.

 

[Lobram]

Hello,

I write from Spain. Sorry about my English.

I'm experiencing the issue related in this thread since I installed Windows 7 HP 64 bits. The first time ocurred after installation of WinRAR 3.90 x64. About three weeks ago I contacted the Spanish support services of WinRAR and they reported the issue to the developers. I've got the e-mails to probe it.

I have installed WinRAR, CCleaner, Firefox, etc. and the issue appears randomly. Now I have not experienced the issue for 5 days from now and I haven't done anything special to try to solve it.

IMHO the issue is completely related to Windows 7 and not to any of the third party software we are using. The issue is widespread and conditions of each user are different in many cases. Some have Firefox installed and others not, and same thing withe all other programs.

If Microsoft knows the issue they will solve it and we could create a page with signatures of all users who are experiencing this annoying error. This is the best way we have to solve it.

Thank you all for your help.

 

[Dazeon]

I write from Spain. Sorry about my English.

It's very good mate, trust me! I know people in the UK who can't write English nearly half as well as you!

If Microsoft knows the issue they will solve it and we could create a page with signatures of all users who are experiencing this annoying error. This is the best way we have to solve it.

You know, I think you're on to something there, I was toying with the idea of a small site detailing the problem, with links to the various posts.

However, maybe an online petition might be a better way to go about it, what does everyone think?

I was going to say who would we petition though... I guess at the end of the day the only common denominator here is actually Microsoft.

IMHO there should be some sort of security measure in place that prevents 3rd party context menu handlers causing this type of chaos, perhaps if an application or utility is going to interact with Explorer on this level then they should have to pass some sort of certification not unlike x64 driver signing.

I might suggest this for the Windows 8 beta, if I get asked again...
​

 

[BashirSabeel]

Hi all,

When I first started to have the explorer crash problem, I had Firefox, Winrar, CCleaner, IE, MS Office etc... I firstly thought it was the OS so I did a second clean install but !DID NOT INSTALL ANY OF MY APPS OR SOFTWARE PACKAGES! and explorer... sooner crashed on me again so I dont thing it could be the packges you are using, I posted a regedit in the previous pages and mine has not crashed yet.

 

[Lobram]

It's very good mate, trust me! I know people in the UK who can't write English nearly half as well as you!

Ja ja ja, I don't think so.

Thank you a lot.

 

[Lucky098]

Hello My Friends

Thank you all for your regular updates, it's fantastic.

Now the bad news as far as my situation is concerned.

Stupid me, I was reading a post in the 'Drivers' section and decided to download a program called Driver Genius Pro. It was a WinZip file and after scanning it first with NOD32, I went to right-click to unblock it in 'Properties' and some very peculiar things happened like the whole Downloads Folder disappeared etc. and then the inevitable happened after 5 days of no issues, Windows Explorer stopped working for a short time. Then after downloading and installing the "out-of-date" drivers that Driver Genius suggested, I rebooted and it restarted and got as far as the desktop, but none of the start-up programs and icons appeared.

Moral to the story ... DO NOT use Driver Update Apps and while I'm at it, DO NOT use Registry Cleaners including CCleaner IMHO.

So what did I do next? I did a clean install, but the 32-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate for the first time. The good news first. Response seems faster and my WEI score is actually higher than it was with 64-bit? My Memory for example (6 GB with 3.25 GB useable) has jumped from a WEI score of 7.6 to 7.9. Now work that out.

Now for the bad news. I installed my Windows Updates, and at some stage I believe when downloading the MS Office 2007 Standard Version updates (and Microsoft Silverlight), I have received a COM Surrogate/DllHost.exe Stopped working Critical Event (refer image).

BTW, I have not installed Firefox yet, I have IE8 enabled. Could it be the culperate, I don't know.

Regards, Smiley

are you back to square one with some crashing again or already fix the problem? I havent problems after fixed some update patch (MS with 2 files, Kaspersky update fix patch, latest Nvidia driver to 195 version) - I dont used CCleaner only TuneUp 2010 included update latest fix patch. Still working fine, no crashing. I also unchecked in Network (Printing File Sharing and Microsoft Client network) - still working fine.

 

[Mr Smiley]

Hi Lucky098 and my other friends

I've just finished installing all of my software after a clean install earlier this afternoon of Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

Now, let me check my reliability history Lucky ... okay, good no issues thus far.

What have I done different this time around?

Installed MS Office 2007 without Outlook and Visio Viewer.

It's just a bit of an experiment which I hope pays off.

I've had terrible issues previously installing Office particularly with UAC at its default setting. The 'Bootstrapper' notification window has appeared and just as it seems to be starting the install, the window closes. I turned UAC off today and fortunately Office installed fine, but this time as mentioned, I chose not to install MS Outlook.

When I noticed the ole32.dll in the faulting module path of my most recent error event report as posted earlier, I think it might have something to do with Office?

What do I have installed? IE8, Windows Live Mail, DownloadStudio, AdobeAcrobat9 Extended, Photoshop CS3, XnView, EasyGif Animator, IZArc, Nero 9, WMP, QuickTime, RealPlayer, IMGBurn, SuperAntiSpyware, RocketDock, CCleaner, ESET Smart Security 4.

Cheers, Smiley

 

[Rouphen]

My explorer crashes remains, even with the IE 8 addons disabled... I'm using Mozilla, but I'm completely sure that if I uninstall Firefox, the crashes will return. There is something "odd" in Windows 7, that eventually lead the OS to a crash, independently of the installed apps.

It can be WinRAR, of course, it can be MS Office... but, as mentioned in a previous post, maybe the culprit is a hardware driver.

In my experience, I have to say that in certain days I'm free of explorer crashes, and I don't know why...

For more info, my apps: MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Publisher), Firefox, Thunderbird, Windows Live Mail, WL Messenger, Movie Maker, WMP12, WL Writer, CCleaner, Defraggler, Tuneup 2010, Infrarecorder, GIMP, Daemon Tools, VLC, K-Lite Codecpack, Nvidia Physx, Utorrent, Kaspersky IS 2010, XP Mode and a few games like Red Faction, Sacred 2, etc.

 

[Lucky098]

my app software are: TuneUp 2010, Kaspersky I.S. 2010, Nvidia included Physx and 3D Glasses, Firefox 3.6 Beta 4, Nikon Tool (for my D5000 camera), Big Fish Games (Mostly are Hidden Object like Return to Ravenhearst which is great games - about 15 games on desktop icon on the left side), Logitech SetPoint 4.80, MS Keyboard driver, MS Office 2007 Pro Plus SP2, CounterSpy V3., Everset Ultimate for monitor CPU,GPU speed, temp,etc.. Media Centre, WMP12 and rest of with Windows 7 that i didnt disabled, Adobe Reader 9.2 and Flash Player (Didnt use Shockwave cos it seem only work on 32bits not 64bits), Adobe Air and sidebar I used are Calendar, Firefox Clock, TuneUp 2010 check-up, Everest Ultimate and Recycle Bin that all work fine - no crashing - I install by set "run as Admin" first then it begin to install... think some of my app has been fix the patch already.

 

[Rouphen]

Hi again. Yesterday I was cleaning a little bit my PC and unistalling apps that I no longer use. During the process, I saw a lot of Microsoft Visual C++ entries, so I uninstalled them all. However, I need Visual C++ for other apps- like certain games-, so I downloaded the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable SP1 2005 and 2008 (both 32 & 64 bits). Since that, explorer works fine... I hope definitly, but for the moment I'm a little bit sceptical.

Is this the solution or a merely chimera that is deceiving me?

Greetings.