Windows Explorer stopped working

phenson

New member
Local time
9:09 PM
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3
Every time I right click a blank area of my desktop to make a new folder, a window pops up that says:

Windows Explorer Has Stopped Working

under that it gives 2 options:

"Check online for a solution and restart the program"
&
"Restart the program"

Selecting either option does nothing---I still get the error message when I right click .

P.S. This is in Windows 7 Home Premium
 
Last edited:

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home built
OS
Win XP Pro & Win 7 Home Premium Dual Boot
CPU
AMD Phenom 9600
Motherboard
Asus M4A78 Plus
Memory
4G OCZ DDR2 1066
Graphics Card(s)
ASUS ENGT220/DI/1GD2(LP) GeForce
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Channels PCI Ex
Monitor(s) Displays
SAMSUNG 2494HM Glossy Black 24"
Hard Drives
2X Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3500320NS 500GB 7200 RPM
PSU
OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ700MXSP 700W Power Supply
Case
RAIDMAX SMILODON Extreme Black ATX-612WEBP 1.0mm SECC Steel
Cooling
Thermaltake CL-P0456 140mm CPU Cooler + 5 case fans
Every time I right click a blank area of my desktop to make a new folder, a window pops up that says:

Windows Explorer Has Stopped Working

under that it gives 2 options:

"Check online for a solution and restart the program"
&
"Restart the program"

Selecting either option does nothing---I still get the error message when I right click .

P.S. This is in Windows 7 Home Premium


There should be information on why in event viewer (type eventvwr in search). Go to windows logs>applications tab. You need to look for critical errors (they have red in the left hand column) that say things like app hang, app crash.

When you find them (there is going to be a lot of data) use the built in snipping tool to make a screen shot. Upload it to us using the attachment icon (shaped like a paper clip) on the reply form.

See Pics

Ken
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
HP Pavillion dv-7 1005 Tx
OS
Win 8 Release candidate 8400
CPU
[email protected]
Memory
4 gigs
Graphics Card(s)
Nvidia 9600M
Sound Card
HD built-in
Monitor(s) Displays
17" Wxga
Screen Resolution
1440x900
Cooling
none
Internet Speed
45Mb down 5Mb up
Thanks for replying Zigzag. I am at work at the moment so I will not be able to look at event viewer until I get home at 7PM EST. I will post back what I find either tomorrow or Monday as I work again tomorrow 7 to 7 but am off Monday and Tuesday and will then have time to look at things.

Thanks again,
Paul
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home built
OS
Win XP Pro & Win 7 Home Premium Dual Boot
CPU
AMD Phenom 9600
Motherboard
Asus M4A78 Plus
Memory
4G OCZ DDR2 1066
Graphics Card(s)
ASUS ENGT220/DI/1GD2(LP) GeForce
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Channels PCI Ex
Monitor(s) Displays
SAMSUNG 2494HM Glossy Black 24"
Hard Drives
2X Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3500320NS 500GB 7200 RPM
PSU
OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ700MXSP 700W Power Supply
Case
RAIDMAX SMILODON Extreme Black ATX-612WEBP 1.0mm SECC Steel
Cooling
Thermaltake CL-P0456 140mm CPU Cooler + 5 case fans
Found a program called ShellEx and installed and ran it. It found a couple suspitious programs running which I then disabled. Now I can right click the desktop with no errors.

Paul
 

My Computer

Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Home built
OS
Win XP Pro & Win 7 Home Premium Dual Boot
CPU
AMD Phenom 9600
Motherboard
Asus M4A78 Plus
Memory
4G OCZ DDR2 1066
Graphics Card(s)
ASUS ENGT220/DI/1GD2(LP) GeForce
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Channels PCI Ex
Monitor(s) Displays
SAMSUNG 2494HM Glossy Black 24"
Hard Drives
2X Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3500320NS 500GB 7200 RPM
PSU
OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ700MXSP 700W Power Supply
Case
RAIDMAX SMILODON Extreme Black ATX-612WEBP 1.0mm SECC Steel
Cooling
Thermaltake CL-P0456 140mm CPU Cooler + 5 case fans
Windows Explorer has stopped working

I was suddenly receiving the message in the title on each bootup. Suspiciously, just after having installed Windows "Hotfix" update though, sadly, uninstalling that particular update did nothing to solve the problem. It seemed likely to be issues with some startup program but prior to going through that drill one-by-one, I did a full scan and optimization with a program I have long used called "Ashampoo". Among other things this program optimizes the registry and I'm pretty sure that was the module that solved the problem. Ashampoo is not free, but my guess is that another poster's suggestion to use the ShellEx software would be a good first try for anyone not currently using Ashampoo (or another registry optimizer). Information in many forums lately indicates that registry optimizers are no longer needed these days what with all of Windows 7 new grooviness (and it is truthfully mostly groovy), but I have my doubts.

Cheers
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 (Ultimate and Home Premium)
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