Right click causes explorer crash fix

[joekohr]

I've been having this same "right-click" issue, when I clicked on the Start menu. It would work just fine for about 5-10min after start up and then after that, if I right clicked on the start menu it would hang. Then explorer.exe would have to restart. After working hard to pinpoint the problem I ended up realizing that the problem was coming from Norton Antivirus. I have now removed it from my computer and the right click issue is gone.

 

[GroShadok]

Thanks tsymyn

Thanks tsymyn for your answer that seems to have solved my crashs.

Indeed, because I keep a log of all the soft I install or uninstall on my PC, I knew that it was probably .net Framework 4 which was responsible, or the new ATI drivers for my video card, because the error started to appear in my Event log basicaly the next day I installed both of them on my PC.

And, in the KB you mentionned ( FIX: The Explorer.exe process stops responding (hangs) when you use Windows Explorer that hosts a shell extension that was created by using MFC ) ... Microsoft recognize it's an issue with the MFC... which is a part of the .net Framework 4 if I'm not misstaking.

So I've installed the fix provided by Microsoft and all seems to work fine now (although I've installed it not long ago so I'll be totaly sure in a few hours/days).

Thanks anyway

 

[RusskiiFoks]

My problem with this was just having more than one Anti Virus program on my PC.
I had Super Anti Virus and AVG both monitoring my PC at once. So i deleted Super Anti Virus and it was instantly fixed. Wish i tried that before i tried all this other info.

 

[jimmyb29]

Right Click Causes Win Explorer to Crash

I found some info on a post that indicated this problem might be caused by an O&O Software install. I uninstalled O&O Disk backup and, so far, my problem has stopped!

jimmyb29

 

[1040]

RusskiiFoks,

Thanks for the post. I also had both AVG and SUPERAntiSpyware running. I closed SAS, modified the settings to eliminate it opening at startup, rebooted my computer and the Windows Explorer "right click freeze" problem apparently is solved (at least it is for the last 15 minutes since I performed the modification. )

Thanks again. Bill

 

[pixelgremlins]

Thanks for the Autoruns - it really fixed my problem - -apparently it was being caused by two ContextMenu Handlers from Safer Networking -ie : Spybot Search and Destroy. After disabling those it works great.

I also can say that program looks pretty sweet and can help with disabling un-needed things that might be bogging down my system.

 

[shootz]

This worked for me thanks. format factory entry caused it.

To add to this post If you would prefer a GUI method to utilize this fix
Autoruns part of the Sysinternals suite from Microsoft is available. The additional advantage of the autoruns application is that it allows you to disable the context handlers one at a time without the need to remove them.


Autoruns for Windows

 

[tinmann]

Windows 7 Explorer crashes on right-mouse clicks, behavior erratic and frequent.

I had the same problem with Windows 7 Explorer crashing on right mouse click's, but fixed it after extensive research on the web:

After reading posts on dozens of webpages, this problem always seemed to occur after installing third-party software. So, I found a utility called, "ShellExView" (freeware): which will give you a listing of all installed menu extensions running on your system, with the ability to "disable" them individually, or in groups.

All third-party software extensions are automatically highlighted, making this procedure much easier. Follow these steps to, hopefully, find the problem.

Select a highlighted extension (one at a time), and right mouse-click, a sub-menu will show several options. Left-click on "disable" and its status will reflect the change from "no" to "yes".

Open "Explorer" (or switch to it) and right mouse-click on a folder or file and see if the problem still exists, if it does, switch back to "ShellExView", re-enable the extension and select another one to disable.

Step through this process, one at a time, until you find the offensive extension.

If the problem goes away, leave the extension disabled and use your machine as normal for a few days.

After this trial period and everything is still okay, your done, leave it disabled.

If it comes back? Try disabling another extension in conjunction with previously disabled items. (I had only one item, so, this is a guess at further troubleshooting.)

Now for some quick help!

My offensive extension happened to be: Spybot-S&D Explorer Integration, Version 2.1.18.113 from Safer-Networking Ltd (Go figure!)

Hope this helps,

Tinmann

 

[tinmann]

Windows 7 Explorer crashes on right-mouse clicks, behavior erratic and frequent.

I had the same problem with Windows 7 Explorer crashing on right mouseclick's, but fixed it after extensive research on the web:

After reading posts on dozens of webpages, this problem always seemed to occur after installing third-party software. So, I found a utility called, "ShellExView" (freeware): which will give you a listing of all installed menu extensions running on your system, with the ability to "disable" them individually, or in groups.

All third-party software extensions are automatically highlighted, making this procedure much easier. Follow these steps to, hopefully, find the problem.

Select a highlighted extension (one at a time), and right mouse-click, a sub-menu will show several options. Left-click on "disable" and its status will reflect the change from "no" to "yes".

Open "Exploer" (or switch to it) and right mouse-click on a folder or file and see if the problem still exists, if it does, switch back to "ShellExView", re-enable the extension and select another one to disable.

Step through this process, one at a time, until you find the offensive extension.

If the problem goes away, leave the extension disabled and use your machine as normal for a few days.

After this trial period and everything is still okay, your done, leave it disabled.

If it comes back? Try disabling another extension in conjunction with previously disabled items. (I had only one item, so, this is a guess at further troubleshooting.)

Now for some quick help!

My offensive extension happened to be: Spybot-S&D Explorer Integration, Version 2.1.18.113 from Safer-Networking Ltd (Go figure!)

Hope this helps,

Tinmann

 

[Bikhody]

I am not computer literate enough to tackle the above suggested solutions, I did attempt to however and ran into a number of problems; first off I didn't seem to be able to find the folder that it is suggest I look in, trying the GUI was even more entertaining as my initial attempt to use it told me I didn't have a register to edit or some such, but I got past that. As far as I could determine there was nothing in my registry that didn't belong except a couple of duplicate entries and one blank entry. Not being sure what I was doing I opted to leave well enough alone.

I am posting this for future people with this problem as I discovered as long as I don't right click in the left pane of explorer it works just fine. I am old school and tend to run my folders like I was still in 3.1, but hey, it took me two years to accept that was better than doing it all at the dos prompt.

 

[NineWhileNine]

My offensive extension happened to be: Spybot-S&D Explorer Integration, Version 2.1.18.113 from Safer-Networking Ltd (Go figure!)

Hope this helps,

Tinmann

Nice one tinnman!

As I had that on mine that was my first try and it worked

Cheers

Dave

 

[M C Bionica]

Windows 7 Explorer crashes on right-mouse clicks, behavior erratic and frequent.

I had the same problem with Windows 7 Explorer crashing on right mouse click's, but fixed it after extensive research on the web:

After reading posts on dozens of webpages, this problem always seemed to occur after installing third-party software. So, I found a utility called, "ShellExView" (freeware): which will give you a listing of all installed menu extensions running on your system, with the ability to "disable" them individually, or in groups.

All third-party software extensions are automatically highlighted, making this procedure much easier. Follow these steps to, hopefully, find the problem.

Select a highlighted extension (one at a time), and right mouse-click, a sub-menu will show several options. Left-click on "disable" and its status will reflect the change from "no" to "yes".

Open "Explorer" (or switch to it) and right mouse-click on a folder or file and see if the problem still exists, if it does, switch back to "ShellExView", re-enable the extension and select another one to disable.

Step through this process, one at a time, until you find the offensive extension.

If the problem goes away, leave the extension disabled and use your machine as normal for a few days.

After this trial period and everything is still okay, your done, leave it disabled.

If it comes back? Try disabling another extension in conjunction with previously disabled items. (I had only one item, so, this is a guess at further troubleshooting.)

Now for some quick help!

My offensive extension happened to be: Spybot-S&D Explorer Integration, Version 2.1.18.113 from Safer-Networking Ltd (Go figure!)

Hope this helps,

Tinmann

Thanks heaps, Tinman. Your fix worked a treat for me.

 

[tyracg]

It was Carbonite that was messing me up

Thanks for the info on where to go in the registry to fix this problem.

For the last few weeks, I was completely shutting down and restarting Windows to temporarily fix this.

For me, it was the Carbonite entry that I deleted and now my right-clicking on files/folders works great again

 

[billfinkri]

A lot of people I have discovered within the last few days have had a problem with right clicking in explorer, causing it to crash. This occurs of Vista, and 7 (7100 atleast) when you install an app, and it installs a context menu shortcut or whatever.

The simple way to get rid of the crashing is by going to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ ContextMenuHandlers" in regedit.exe, backing up the whole ConxtentMenuHandlers folder, and then start deleting all of them one by one (you can start with the ones you've been meaning to get rid of anyway ) and continuously testing the right click. Be careful not to click on an actual folder when opening of explorer after the crash because for me that seemed to solve the problem temporarily. Instead just open up your username folder and right click on a file until it stops. Of course import the Context folder after you find it, test explorer once again by right clicking to make sure you found the problem, and delete the file that caused the problem.

Hopefully this helps someone.

This worked like a charm for me! Thanks! (I ended up deleting ALL the menu-handlers!) Now ALL is fine on that workstation - everything is once again as should be.

 

[s0c9]

This just started happening to me recently...
followed instructions in OP.
Worked great.
First item in list had a blank handler entry.. deleted it.. problem solved.
Thz!

 

[l31007sevf]

Used shellexview which solved my problem.
Mine was an ACDSEE entry after uninstalling their trial software.

Thank you, CupofDice and ratznumb!

 

[Abi822]

For other people out their 2017 Who still use windows 7, problem - (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers). I found 2 major and popular programs which course the problem 7zip & Notepad++, Wish it was list of 3 lol

 

[cyberwretch]

Two-year intermittent lingering problem seemingly resolved by first Alt-Right clicking Folder or Drive Properties, releasing Alt, then just right clicking.
Don't know why but it's worked for a month or so now.

 

[gzapp669]

infected easy fix links in ths forum

Hi everyone,
I read through most of this thread, and I wanted to warn all users that the "EASY FIX" link has a program that is full of viruses and Trojans. It installs as ReIMageRepair. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS PROGRAM !