windows explorer

[hello2007]

i cut out all of the shell extensions from 3rd party software and i tried everything but for some reason windows explorer keeps freezing occasionally on me, and during shutdowns windows would hang on shutting down and would just stay like that without shutting down. What could be causing this?

its been happening ever since i enabled windows updates. So i disable them and uninstalled the updates that occurred but the problem is still there. I know its because of windows updates because the same thing is happening on my laptop which i enabled windows updates on during the same time

it just happened again heres a description i just noticed

Description:

A problem caused this program to stop interacting with Windows.

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: AppHangB1

Application Name: explorer.exe

Application Version: 6.0.6001.18000

Application Timestamp: 47918e5d

Hang Signature: 9bc5

Hang Type: 517

OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.2

Locale ID: 1033

Additional Hang Signature 1: bdfcc016be67c83dee9ed471843c2ea6

Additional Hang Signature 2: a600

Additional Hang Signature 3: 8c446e8f351f3ff8456bee64eba30e80

Additional Hang Signature 4: 9bc5

Additional Hang Signature 5: bdfcc016be67c83dee9ed471843c2ea6

Additional Hang Signature 6: a600

Additional Hang Signature 7: 8c446e8f351f3ff8456bee64eba30e80

it happens whenever i go into control panel or i right click or just click a file anywhere and when i try to access my documents or pictures or videos or any folder

[exile360]

I've noticed similar behaviors lately. I believe it's related to one of the recent updates that was released this past Tuesday. Hopefully MS will get it sorted out.

[hello2007]

so we just wait?

windows explorer not responding have been happening to me since i enabled updates last month so i think its more than that, hard to figure out what it is

[exile360]

What firewall/av software do you have installed? It could be that hanging up the wuauclt process used for automatic updates.

[hello2007]

no i don't have auto updates enabled. I disabled alot of right-click icons and i thought that fixed the problem but i still have shutdown hangs and windows not responding freezes. I have no idea what it could be

[AdvancedSetup]

I'm assuming this is a Vista issue as I've not seen it myself so far on XP or Win7 - rarely run Vista so no system up to date on that OS

[exile360]

Yes, I suspect it is an issue with one of the recent updates for Vista. Perhaps it's Microsoft's way of trying to persuade current Vista users to upgrade to Windows 7 . If I can't sort it out soon I'm going to start removing the recent updates one by one until I find the culprate, then I'll update, but skip that one. Losing that much performance for the sake of covering a vulnerability isn't worth it and I run a serious level of security that leaves my system humming along just fine even when it's all enabled .

[hello2007]

i already tried uninstalling all of the updates untill i got to the last 3-4 updates and i couldnt uninstall those so i used my computer like that and i still had the hanging and not responding problems

[exile360]

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm about to remove one of the recent updates (the kernel update) as it seems like the most likely suspect. If that doesn't correct it, then there's only one other software I can think of that may be causing it, it's a recent beta that I installed .

[hello2007]

its really strange i dont know what to do because i uninstalled all of the updates except about the last 3-4 vista wouldnt let me uninstall so i pretty much uninstalled all of them on both computers and i still have the same problems. Maybe i need to uninstall all of them completely but vista won't let me, when i right-click to uninstall the last few nothing happens compared to the others which give me the option to uninstall

[exile360]

This is the update I was referring to: KB969947. You should check Windows Update and install all the security updates except for that one and see how it goes.

[hello2007]

it still keeps happening. This actually fixed the problem for you?

[exile360]

Nope, tried it today and it didn't help . I also uninstalled the beta I mentioned previously and that wasn't it either. I'm going to keep working on narrowing it down but I'm almost out of options. If necessary I'll do a format/reinstall and see how things are if I never install that particular update.

[calintexas]

If you have Eraser, there have been issues with a series of updates to Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) that have caused windows explorer issues (primarily right click crashes) starting for me in mid-September. It's described as an XP issue on the Heidi forum, but I recall that at least one poster had the problem with Windows 7. It's probably not your issue, but I thought it was worth mentioning (just in case). Uninstalling Eraser or going through a convoluted uninstall and reinstall sequence of Eraser and the MS Vissual C++ thing solves the issue. Here's the Heidi thread: http://bbs.heidi.ie/viewtopic.php?f=2&...16&start=30

[exile360]

Thanks for the info cal . I don't use Eraser, but I do use the Vista Codec Package, which does indeed install the latest VC2008 Redist. during installation. I'll clean all of that out and see if it helps.

[hello2007]

i have eraser and i just downloaded it last month, it could be it but i doudt it since i dont have it on my laptop. I'm thinking it might be a giveawayoftheday product either screendash or astra32 which i recently downloaded last month on both computers. What else could it be. I uninstalled all updates from vista and that didnt solve anything so if its not screendash or atrs32 then returnil is the only other software that could be effecting my computer wrong

or sandboxie theres isnt anything else

[exile360]

I uninstalled all VC 2008 and 2005 packages, then reinstalled my ATI drivers (latest ones) which installed the 2005 package and reinstalled the Vista Codek Package which installs 2008 and things seem much better now. I also removed my Realtek audio drivers and installed the latest version, but it had issues with installing and kept hanging and failing, I finally got it to install though and now things seem much better, but still not quite right. I've noticed that wmiadap.exe and services.exe have been eating a lot of CPU, as well as dwm.exe, but they've finally settled down somewhat.

Reinstall your Windows Updates, you don't want to leave your PC insecure.

[exile360]

Here's an update. The issue came back with a vengeance so I started thinking about any software that I've updated lately besides Windows that may be causing issues with browsing files in explorer. There was only one I could think of that accessed files every single time a directory was opened: Kaspersky. I removed it and my computer is humming along like a dream. I found an issue about many, many others reporting similar problems with the latest update to KIS/KAV here. Apparently the company is aware of it, I just hope they fix it real soon because I'm paid up for 2 years with KAV and I'd hate not to get to use it because of a problem like this.

[hello2007]

i don't have kaspersky and never will, not a fan of kaspersky at all for more than 1 reason. I think i found my problem as well. Screendash i uninstalled it and my laptop never crashed at all since then. Same goes to my desktop. I tested it out too by constantly opening and closing the control panel, accessing files, documents, pictures etc and right-clicking stuff and everything is working like new.

edit: 2 years wow thats a long time, you really invested in kaspersky. Even if i liked a program i wouldn't go that far into the future with them. 2 years is a long time you never know what could happen in those 2 years that could make other programs good and bad.

[exile360]

Yep, you can never tell how different softwares are going to affect your PC .

As for Kaspersky, I've been using it consistently since I switched to version 6 from McCrappy...err I mean McAfee and it's never let me down. Any time there were issues like this they corrected them promptly and I've seldom come across any malware sample that KAV didn't detect (even when VT said it didn't thanks to Kaspersky's heuristics ). I'm sure they'll get it sorted soon and I'll be back using it once more. There aren't too many companies I really trust, in fact, there are exactly 2: Kaspersky and Malwarebytes'.