Windows Problems

[TABwebmaster]

Just to start a new thread for what I'm sure will be a hot topic.

I'll go first, then...

Windows Explorer (the explorer shell, not IE) crashes every time I try to look at a folder that contains .avi files. It hasn't always happened...just recently. Happens every time for a certain folder. It's very annoying because I then have no access to anything in the Start menu and in order to get it all back I have to CTRL+ALT+DEL (Task Manager) and run a new process (C:\Windows\System32\explorer.exe). That gets me back but as soon as I open the folder in question again it crashes. No error messages...just crashes.

I know this has something to do with .avi codecs installed and maybe conflicting with the thumbnail view or at least that's what I've figured on by searching Google.

Anyone else having this problem? Anyone have a solution?

[Dale O Sea]

I've been getting some odd explorer 'refreshes', where all the icons blink out, which is sometimes accompanied by an explorer crash, but most of the time not.. I don't know what it is. I have a hunch its SP2 related..

Maybe one of those six new patches will fix it for you, heh.

[TABwebmaster]

I've had that blinking since I installed SP2 but the crash issue is recent. I installed SP2 before it was released...and never had problems. I got lucky and found that link to the IT and developers link about 2 weeks before release.

[Fred_Vobbe]

Had I did the vote yesterday I could have have honestly stated that I had DOS 6.2 on an XT 8088.

Actually, the machine is my "answering machine", which ran on DOS and a program called Watson. Worked like a champ from 1988 till yesterday. And it's didn't die. I just replaced it with a Linux Asterisk phone system running on a Dell that I got for $30 on Ebay. Hopefully I can get 15 years out of that one too.

[spiritme]

TABwebmaster
I thought I was losing my mind..I am having the exact same problem! Not being able to use my start menu or some of my desk top items that I use alot.
Do you have any idea how I get this fixed?
sure would help an old lady with no knkowledge of WIndows XP!

[TABwebmaster]

My problem goes a little deeper, spiritme. I can't even see my Start button or the rest of the taskbar there on the bottom of the screen when this happens and I can't see anything on my desktop. Most of the windows that are open stay open usually except for My Computer if I have that open. That's when it happens. I will be looking through some of the folders on My Computer (the ones with .avi files) and Windows Explorer crashes.

Sounds like your machine is just locking up...probably something to do with a program you're running. If you can still see the Start button and the taskbar and your desktop but you can't click on them it could either be a running program that is locking things up or a virus. Have you run a virus scan (with updated Virus definitions) lately?

What Operating System? If WinXP, what Service Pack? If you don't know you can right-click on My Computer (on your desktop) and then go down to properties. That will show you what operating system and how much RAM you have as well as a few other important things. Let us know.

[HurricaneJoanie]

Tab...I missed the poll. I'm running Mac OS X Panther.

[TABwebmaster]

It's up there...I just typed OS/10 rather than OS/X

[Dale O Sea]

It's up there...I just typed OS/10 rather than OS/X

Oops, I put her vote in for her. I thought she meant the poll expired. We can spot OSX one, heh.

[TABwebmaster]

No need to set an expire on it...I don't think the board allows duplicate votes and you can't vote unless you're logged in.

[Gotrox]

you can try a program called "wintools.net" for free to clean up garbage and find/repair registry errors---norton utilities works fairly well also, but I absoulutely detest nortons, as it is a major resource hog. Your problem with crashing when viewing folders including .avi files probably has something to do with previewing them in thumbnail-----try changing folder options ( documents instead of pictures, for instance) might also be low ram if it crashes in folders with major amount of files trying to process thumbs. Misconfigured ram/swapfile ratio?? Maybe bad codec? Maybe anti-virus set to check all files on open can cause crashes trying to scan in real time all files in a folder on thumbnail preview.
A good tweak program will allow you to set explorer as seperate process, saving system crashes-----won't stop explorer from crashing, but will keep windows from crashing concurrently. I would suggest wintools.net, tweakxp, or my favorite, smartalec pc accelerator, as optimising programs.