Address bar in Aero theme just disappers for no reason.

[DiracDeBroglie]

I got the Aero theme set as desktop environment on my Win7HP SP1 64-bit computer. The problem I have has nothing to do with the setting [Full file path in title bar] in Folder Options, as this is only valid for the Windows Classic theme.

In Aero, the (breadcrumbs) address bar, all together with the search box and the forward/back buttons, sporadically disappear in only ONE of the (File) Explorer windows; see attachment/snippet.



The other File Explorer window(s) remain(s) intact. Then again, in a few other occasions, the address bar disappeared in ALL Explorer windows; see second attachment.



In those cases the search box was initially present; I think I had the same problem before too with no search box at all enabled in the Explorer windows. The problem with disappearing address bars usually manifests itself right after (re)booting. However, when opening a new Explorer window, all seems OK and the address and search box are present.

Could that be a bug? What can be done about it? Sometimes I disable/re-enable the Search facility and all is back OK, but I have to say this is not a very elegant way getting the address bar back in Aero.

I ran the command >sfc /verifyonly but there are no problems with the Win7 system.

I've spent a lot of time already Googling the Internet, but unfortunately I haven't found any elegant solution yet.

I hope I can get the problem sorted out from your responses.

Thanks
j

 

[A Guy]

This is not an unusual bug going way back. Usually described just as you do. I don't think I've ever seen a specific fix beyond the sfc /scannow, which obviously won't apply to you. Is this problem happening frequently enough to test via a Clean Start?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

This would at least confirm if it is a conflict. Since it is random, and only sometimes on one of many explorer windows, it will be hard to track this down.

A Guy

 

[DiracDeBroglie]

The problem with the disappearing address bars is definitely sporadic. At first sight, there is no 'easy' systematic behavior which might make it easy to analyze or debug the problem. I'm afraid you're right, it'll remain a troublesome bug where its appearance is driven by many underlying 'glitches'.

The 2 Explorer windows in my last screen shot are back normal, at the moment when writing this reply. Rebooting the computer sometimes solves the problem, but not always.

Forgot to mention earlier, in [Folder Options > View] the box [Restore previous folder windows at logon] is enabled. So at (re-)boot all my folders are restored.

The problem appears only for Explorer windows that are opened right after, or maybe during, the (re-)booting process of the computer. There are no problems for any Explorer windows being newly opened by the user or any app after the boot process has completely finished.

I cannot get rid of the impression the problem is caused during, or by, the boot process. Maybe the boot order of particular system files has something to do with it.

I was not really looking for a solution tacking the root cause of the disappearing address bars, rather I was hoping to find a bit more elegant Explorer windows 'reset' procedure, than switching off and on the Search facility or rebooting the computer all together.

I wonder if the problem still persists under Win8 or Win8.1

j

 

[ThrashZone]

I would expect a rouge security suite or virus something is tagging windows search as a risk,
What security suite do you have installed ?
Review Jacee’s instructions to run Adwcleaner here,
Ignore the title of the thread,
http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/316404-instant-savings-app.html#post2638545


You can use these free tools to see if they find anything,
Manually Update them before running full scans,
Try not to use your computer while the scans are running, (one at a time of course).
Uncheck the box to Activate the Free trial from the final install options,
http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
http://www.superantispyware.com/?tag=SUPERANTISPYWARE
This one is the longest up to 4 hours, the others are only about 45 minutes,
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx

Post any text reports from the scanners for more suggestions,
Cheers.

 

[A Guy]

Well, more elgant then your methods, but will of course close all open explorer windows

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/179436-explorer-add-restart-explorer-desktop-context-menu.html

A Guy

 

[DiracDeBroglie]

I use Norton Internet Security, latest release. Never had any problems with it. I also use CCleaner very regular to clean up all crap. I'm not sure if Windows Search has anything to do with it; I think I had the problem before with Search not at all enabled.

As for killing and restarting explorer.exe, I'll consider that option if problems start occurring again because all is OK since several days, even more than a week now.

I'll try to do the scans this eve or later.

Thanks, j

 

[DiracDeBroglie]

I scanned the HDD using Instant Savings App and Malwarebytes , both said there was no malware.

SuperAntiSpyware managed to find in an old archive on the data partition (so not in the system) one file that was considered as malware named as:
Virus:Win32/Induc.A

Microsoft's Security scanner did find one piece of Adware described at:
Adware:Win32/OpenCandy

My Norton Internet Security, on the other hand, found out more than 25 tracking cookies, which are usually never a problem as I run the CCleaner very regular.

So, concluding, I think it is very unlikely that any malware is responsible for the sporadic disappearance of the address bar.

Something else I forgot to mention in my first post, is that the history of the blue-colored back-and-forth buttons in the top-left of any Explorer window disappear after (re)boot. After (re)booting the computer, the Explorer windows (including the address bar and the search box) get restored to the state as they were in previous session, except for the history of the back-and-forth buttons; those buttons are then both gray-colored. Going back to a higher level in the folder structure can only be done by clicking the appropriate level in the address bar, after which the history in the back-and-forth buttons seem to start building up again in a correct manner.

j

 

[A Guy]

Interesting the explorerframe.dll is responsible for those buttons. I know you ran SFC, but have you tried replacing explorer.exe, or explorerframe.dll

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/42776-extract-files-windows-7-installation-dvd.html

A Repair install may also fix that. I assume the /verify will show the same files as /scannow?

A Guy

 

[ThrashZone]

I scanned the HDD using Instant Savings App

That's a new one ?

 

[derekimo]

I would expect a rouge security suite or virus something is tagging windows search as a risk,
What security suite do you have installed ?
Review Jacee’s instructions to run Adwcleaner here,
Ignore the title of the thread,
http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/316404-instant-savings-app.html#post2638545


You can use these free tools to see if they find anything,
Manually Update them before running full scans,
Try not to use your computer while the scans are running, (one at a time of course).
Uncheck the box to Activate the Free trial from the final install options,
http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
http://www.superantispyware.com/?tag=SUPERANTISPYWARE
This one is the longest up to 4 hours, the others are only about 45 minutes,
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx

Post any text reports from the scanners for more suggestions,
Cheers.

I scanned the HDD using Instant Savings App

That's a new one ?

Possibly referring to the title of the other thread?

 

[A Guy]

It's a virus, sure it was a mistake

A Guy

 

[DiracDeBroglie]

Interesting the explorerframe.dll is responsible for those buttons. I know you ran SFC, but have you tried replacing explorer.exe, or explorerframe.dll

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/42776-extract-files-windows-7-installation-dvd.html

A Repair install may also fix that. I assume the /verify will show the same files as /scannow?

A Guy

I re-installed the file explorerframe.dll from the Win7installer.iso file, which I have on my HDD on a separate data partition. That went without any problems, although I had to take ownership of the *.dll file. However the problem with the back-and-forward buttons loosing their history is clearly not solved; at *each* booting of the computer the history of the back-and-forward buttons is gone. I did not re-install the explorer.exe because I think is not going to solve the issue with the history of the buttons.

As for the sporadic disappearance of the address bar and search box, logging off and back on from the Windows account restores the address bar and search box---that is at least faster than rebooting the computer. I've done a test by consecutively rebooting the computer 10 to 20 times after each other, without running any apps in between. In my case the disappearance of the address bar and search box is really sporadic and has nothing to do with any apps doing whatever---also the address bar and search box of the control panel window disappeared a few times.

On my Asus computer I got 2 (TWO) Win7 HP SP1 system partitions. My everyday work account, which is a clean install from Digital River, and another up-to-date Win7 partition from Asus which I call the OEM version (and full of bloatware which I never needed). The OEM I almost never use but its handy as I can boot into the OEM version and do operations on my clean installed system partition.

Now I noticed that the OEM Win7 version has exactly the same problem as my work Win7 clean installed version; that is, address bars and search boxes disappear sporadically and the history of my back-and-forward buttons is always gone too after rebooting.

I cannot get rid of the impression that the problem of the disappearing address bar and search boxes, and the loss of the history of the back-and-forward buttons has little to do with damaged ExplorerFrame.dll and Explorer.exe files, as those files are probably not damaged at all. (Note that >sfc /verifyonly did not come up with any corrupted file(s), all files were intact.) If those 2 files would've been damaged, then logging off and on, or rebooting, would not have such a healing effect on the problem, and probably the frequency with which the problem would occur, in case of damaged ExplorerFrame.dll and Explorer.exe files, would be higher than what it is now, so meaning probably more systematic than sporadic.

The only option is clean re-install I think.

j

 

[A Guy]

I agree, loading of the files is the issue. Almost like a webpage that only partially loads without a refresh. And odd problem when not very infrequent. You could try a repair install if the next step would be a fresh install anyway. A Guy