Windows explorer freezes

[Aerhead]

Hi all,

New to this forum and pulling out the strands of hair that are left. I have usually been able to Google a solution to the occassional ills on my Desktop but no luck on this one.

The problem started about 3 weeks ago out of the blue. If I go into windows explorer I can open all the folders I like with no problem. If I open a file - .txt, .pdf - whatever - I will eventually after 2 or 3 minutes get a freeze on trying to close a file.

The machine is running XP Home SP3. I tried a reinstall of XP SP3 after downgrading IE7 to IE6. I have upgraded IE 6 to IE 7 to IE 8 and the problem is still there. I have scanned the disk to death at this stage with BitDefender AV2009 and I have run Regshave registry cleaner all to no avail. Process Explorer is blisfully unaware of the problem. When the problem happens I can alt - tab between applications but the task bar is locked and I have to do a hard restart.

The disk does not need defrag and checkdisk is ok too.

When I look at the Event Viewer under Application errors I get white crosses on red circles for Source : Application Hang Cat 101 Event 1002. For System Errors the source is 'Browser' with event 8032.

The machine has 2GB of RAM and is a Dell Dimension.

Any help mucho appreciated !

[Lamb Chop]

One of the more tech minded folk will be along I am sure.

I am the one asking for help usually and learnt heaps from these guys and gals

Meanwhile I have had no end of trouble with two computers who both hated IE7 and wont even dare to bother with IE8.

Rolled back to IE6 and the troubles of freezing stopped for me.

It did in my computer when I tried to reinstall.

Bought a Dell and IE7 was not compatible with it either but luckily didnt do much damage as I immediately rolled back to 6.

I use Firefox anyway with an IE tab for newspapers that need it.

I can honestly say that until IE7 came to town I hadn't had any problems with computers that were not my doing because I did something silly - yet many like it.

[Aerhead]

I finally fixed this problem without finding out what the root cause is - which is OK but not OK too. I Googled Windows Explorer replacements and tried a few including Free Commander but settled on AccelMan which can be downloaded at :http://www.flexigensoft.com/accelman. It has a lot more features than the MS product and is free. It used to be about $30 ! So far no complaints. It would be perfect if it booted on Start / right click / Explore rather than using a desktop shortcut but there is so much in this product that it may well have that feature but I just haven't found it yet.

[Dencandy]

This seems to be a Windows Explorer problem, rather than Internet Explorer (they are related, but are not the same application).

If you are having trouble with any .txt file that's important, because Windows is dependent on them to run. So even if the alternative browser works for now, you may get problems later.

Have you run the scannow utility to repair your dll files?

Have you tried System Restore to a date before this problem started?

If they doesn't work, do you have an earlier registry back that you can restore?

Do you have an installation disk which will allow you to run the Windows Repair facility?

[scottlpool2003]

This seems to be a Windows Explorer problem, rather than Internet Explorer (they are related, but are not the same application).

If you are having trouble with any .txt file that's important, because Windows is dependent on them to run. So even if the alternative browser works for now, you may get problems later.

Have you run the scannow utility to repair your dll files?

Have you tried System Restore to a date before this problem started?

If they doesn't work, do you have an earlier registry back that you can restore?

Do you have an installation disk which will allow you to run the Windows Repair facility?

Glad you found the solution, I was going to advise the obvious defragging etc