Windows Explorer keeps crashing, taking Dr. Watson with it.

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The Windows is SP3 and the .net framework is 3.0. Since the computer isn't and never was connected to the internet, these are the latest available updates. That don't require a connection.

As for the Catalyst there is only the 8.8 version that is newer, but as it came out after my comp started doing this, I haven't installed it yet. I suppose I can uninstall the graphic driver and see if it still crashes like that.

By the way, does installing Internet Explorer 7 or 8 also changes the Windows Explorer version or not ?
 
You might need .Net framework 1.1 or 2.0 for CCC to work properly... it wouldn't hurt to download those. You may want to try an earlier version of CCC if the newer ones don't work for you. It may also be due to an incompatibility with SP3. If nothing else works, try rolling back to SP2 and avoid SP3.
 
.net 1.1 and 2.0 are also installed alongside 3.0.

The graphic drivers and ccc's all work, this thing didn't started with the 8.7. Also I had SP3 installed for a long time working just fine. This behaviour came out of the blue.

As for the DirectX9 version and SP version, I have no idea how to roll those back to previous ones.

Does installing Internet Explorer 7 or 8 also changes the Windows Explorer version or not ?
 
It may or may not have been the wrong choice of words but what I meant by backwards compatible is; why do the later service packs have to render the older Windows CD repair jobs useless? Sure, it would be ridiculous expect a Windows XP CD to fix a Vista install but should it not work for a CD that is still the same OS?

At the end of the day all the service packs are is an amalgamation of updates. So why should that stop the original Windows CD, which still contains the core OS data from repairing what is still the core installation of the OS on the PC? Updates or not, could Microsoft not have designed it so that the older version CD's can still repair the core Windows instalment regardless of what service packs it has with the core files? Like setting it back to factory settings, even if it means removing the updates to do it. Would it matter having to download and install the service packs again, as long as the reversal-repair worked?

Also why could they not include the option to create a new rescue CD after the upgrade to a service pack compatible version? Or at least allow you to download an Application tool that can do this for you? Surely Microsoft are brilliant enough to have worked something out?

Now about Slipstreaming new SP3 CD's... okay let's be honest here, how many people are going to know about that trick? Is it even encouraged or advertised by Microsoft and is it something a more basic user can do? Or is it a 3rd party trick that requires 3rd party software and Techy instructions?

And sure it's something you can do and something that even I can probably achieve but before we get all ‘holier than thou’, become arrogant ‘know-it-alls’, talking about it like everybody knows how to do it and accusing people of lies and inaccuracies let's just be aware of 'The concept of other people' here. Not everyone is as computer literate as you or I, Zoron; people have different levels of skills, patience, confidence and time. How many people do you think are going to look into what it takes to slipstream an up to date Windows CD and then think; "Screw that I'm just going to buy a new CD"?

My answer to that would be: QUITE A LOT.

Hence I believe that in my own opinion, Microsoft has not taken the consumer friendly path and have still encouraged product purchasing, just as they always have. That’s how business sense actually works and that’s one of the reasons why Microsoft is one of the richest corporations in the world. It’s clever, it’s brilliant and I admire them for it but it’s evil at the same time.

Lies-shmies and blatant inaccuracies my left buttock Zoron, you’re entitled to your own opinion and at the end of the day that’s all it is. If it’s one thing I can’t stand it’s people confusing their own opinions with the facts and automatically accusing any opposing opinions to be lies without giving it proper thought. BTW sorry I called you a Microsoft Fanboy, clearly some people can’t take a joke.
 
The files aren't backward compatible... if you save a file with Word 2007 (for example) in it's native format and try to open it with Word 2003... it ain't gonna happen. Many of the files updated by service packs aren't compatible with older versions from older service packs... it just doesn't work that way.

Besides, even without a slipstreamed CD... you STILL have the option of reloading Windows clean and then loading the service pack on afterward. MS is hardly doing this to "make more money"... since the service packs are provided free. You want to bitch about a company that makes you pay for OS updates, bitch at Apple. How many versions of OSX are there now? Could you upgrade to any of them for free?

Perhaps the OP didn't know about that option, but you obviously did... and it's YOUR "opinion" that I was rebutting... not the OP's and not simdude's. If he had inquired about the option, I would have told him right away that he's better off creating his own slipstreamed CD and linking him to the instructions to do so. However, it wasn't asked, and you simply make the assertion that MS wants to drain more money out of our pockets when, in truth, you can create your own CDs without spending a penny.

Now if you're making a joke... ha ha. Funny. Misleading others isn't funny, however. Did you stop to think that the person that doesn't know about slipstreaming (whom you so vehemently defend) might take your post seriously? No, I bet you didn't.

Your assertion was wrong. That's my only beef. If you want to take it elsewhere, that's up to you. If you didn't know that you could slipstream a service pack into a Windows install, then I apologize. Since you were attempting to assist, I thought that you would have known. Still doesn't mean you should jump down my throat for correcting your assertion.
 


Yes, I realise what you are saying but what I am trying to say is that it may not have to be that way. Word 2007 also has the option to save in older formats. Now, ‘there’ is an example of MS being backwards compatible! And by the way Word 2007 is not word 2003 with a service pack to make it Word 2007, it’s a different piece of software entirely as is Windows XP and Vista are different OS’s all together. Windows XP Pro SP1 and Windows XP Pro SP 3 are still the same OS. The difference is that one has a higher level of updates. If I update my Office 2000 I can still run a scan and repair task using the old CD without having to slipstream a new one. So why can’t Windows XP be the same?

I suppose if I told you that Microsoft were not being backwards compatible by making Direct X 10 only available on Vista you would say the same thing? “The files are not compatible with Windows XP, it ain’t gonna happen”. Well guess what… It’s happened! Ever heard of the Alky Project? Yes, a third party has made Direct X 10 backwards compatible for Windows XP, which proves it can be done. So you see I believe it is simply that Microsoft choose not to make certain things backwards compatible when they know it makes them more money not to do so. Direct X 10 is one of, if not only the major selling points in Vista to attract the gamers so it would be a bad business move to allow Direct X 10 to function on older systems.



To be honest I’ve never used or would intend to use an Apple based system so why would I want to bitch about them? If I remember correctly, I think I was bitching about Microsoft making our old CD’s obsolete and us being left to purchase or (now to my knowledge so it seems) make our own CD’s.



Yeah, with 3rd party practices because Microsoft have not made it an authentic task and yes I believe they do want to drain more money out of our pockets. It’s a business and in reality that’s what businesses do... MAKE MONEY! Bleed the consumer dry… Or maybe they just create products just to make us all happy? Yeah, maybe that’s why Bill Gates is one of the richest men in the world? He never wanted to make money off of us all, he just happened to get rich making us all these wonderful products! Why didn’t I think of that?



Well as it happens I can honestly say that I knew nothing about Slipstreaming until you mentioned it, however Google is a powerful tool for doing a bit of research as I am sure you are aware. You’re worried that people might take my post seriously? No need for that when someone jumps in afterwards with a half cooked solution claiming that everything I have said is a lie and or wrong. If you are worried about people’s views on Microsoft wanting to make more money off us all then I don’t think people need my help. I think people are quite capable of forming their own opinions on the matter. It’s not like Microsoft have much competition anyway and if they did they’d probably just buy it.



Your apology is accepted. However I believe I should have made the reasoning’s for my ‘assertion’ quite clear by now and my opinion still stands.

I think agreeing to disagree may be the only option here.
 
DX9 shouldn't be causing your problems... but SP3 very well could be. Here are the instructions for slipstreaming:

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=295

I would make a slipstreamed SP2 CD and reinstall Windows using it. Then, perform all of the Windows updates except SP3. See if you have the same issues. If you do, then there is some sort of hardware issue... that's the onlyl other explanation.
 
I got a shedload of stuff on that computer that I can't backup or move because of the explorer crashing when I try that. Experimenting with different clean installs isn't exactlly an option here.

As soon as and if I'll manage to find a way to stop the mindless crashing, even temporary, just to allow me to move my indispensable files somewhere else, then I'll format the sucker without giving it a second thought. But until then, I'm stuck whining about it on windoze help forums.

It just crossed my mind to use something else to move my files around like Total Commander or something, but I doubt it'll work since that too uses the windows core features to manage files around. :pfff:
 
Do you have access to another computer or another hard drive? If you had another working computer, it would be easy to back up everything you needed. If you had another hard drive, you could then experiment with different SP levels. I agree... it's a pain in the @$$... but you don't have a lot of alternatives.
 
If I use Total Commander insted of windows Explorer to manage files around it doesn't crash anymore. It's something within the exporer that's causing all the trouble.
 
Hate to say I told ya so.

Like I also say, you should invest in copy of Drive Image for creating an image of your freshly installed healthy system, NTI Shadow for backing up your files and a USB drive.

It will save you all of the ball-ache and time wasting next time something like this happens.
 
Try adding explorer.exe to the data execution prevention. That should fix this problem I think.
Anyone tried this?
 
Had the same problem.

Ran SFC /scannow

Problem solved.

Also took care of a problem I was having where Java wasn't running.

 
I'm running windows XP Pro, SP3 and have just experienced the same problem as detailed by the OP ... every time I open Windows Explorer and navigate to a folder containing .avi files explorer freezes and DrWatson comes up with an error and closes - the file it points to is different nearly every time.

So far I have updated and run a full system scan with my virus checker (Trend Micro Internet Security Pro - latest version) - no viruses found other than a few cookies.

I've gone through add/ remove programs in Control Panel and removed a load of programs that I don't use, including a video program that my brother installed called "MPCStar Movie Player" (before he gave me the computer) which had recently updated itself - but had played videos of all formats fine since it's update.

I also found a program called "Bonjour" which I don't remember installing and which wasn't there before - so removed that (which was tied in with IE - currently running IE8) - I only found out as this web page was open in the background and I was reading through the posts at ther time of removing it).

I then performed CHKDSK on all partitions on my hard drive (took 3 hours) and on rebooting I still had the same problem 🙁

...

I have typed "regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll" and then "regsvr32 shmedia.dll" into the run prompt with no errors as suggested in the link by mikedrmfs

I am now running "SFC /scannow" from the run command, and it's already prompted me to insert the Windows XP Pro DVD as it needed to fix a file (within 30 secs of starting this command). The process finished within a few minutes, so am going to reboot now and see if it works (will post back if it does / doesn't work).
 
Still got the same problem. Tried dissabling my virus checker to see if that was causing anything, and same result again - as soon as I open the folder in Windows Explorer the system hangs with a DrWatson failure.

I'm now going to try removing service pack 3 and re-installing it to see if that's the problem - will keep you posted as to how it goes...
 
Removing SP3, rebooting and dissabling the virus checker didn't fix anything - neither did re-installing SP3 ... back to the drawingboard 🙁
 
We run 3 pc's in our household. Out of the blue this started happening with all of our machines. An error in windows explorer and the proverbial click here to send the problem to M$.

No matter what I have done or tried to do, the error comes up when working in basic folders in windows explorer. I could understand if I were tampering within the windows directory, but when you're in the middle of moving files within directories and this crash comes up, its unnerving to say the least.

I have tried everything suggested or tried here to no avail.

M$ has a tip to shut off the DEP or DAP, I forget exactly what its called so that it stops monitoring windows explorer and these crashes will stop. Well it does nothing to stop them.

Since it is affecting more and more machines, I think it's related to one of their upgrade roll outs. Or maybe shutting off the DEP thing does work but the next roll out turns it on again.

I'm not sure, but yes it does get old fast. Provided we are not tampering with the windows directory, and we're willing working in windows explorer, M$ has no right to dictate how we handle file management. IF that is what M$ has in mind by activating such a feature......

It's of small comfort knowing that I am not alone. For a while I thought my machine was being hijacked or something. Since this is becoming more wide spread, I am convinced some M$ upgrade is the cause of this, though M$ won't admit to it.
 
I was glad to see a current reply. I've been having these problems over the past week especially but on and off for the preceding week. I just install the Photoshop CS5 so I just kept blaming it. I also just installed a new 1T Seagate for my Z drive which I use to store my photo's - about 37gig.

It was a clean install and it worked fine right out of the box but the same crap came up for over a week now. I don't have that Dr software - I may not have it installed or activated - I usually like to figure out what it is and could have thought I didn't want them to have access to my computer - not that I'm hiding anything but it's none of their business.

If someone finds a final fix for this I'd sure as hell appreciate it. Until I think I may use Photoshop Bridge until I can figure this one out. Another thing I'm not able to use task manager to close the OS - I have to do a hard boot and stay on the power button to get the thing closed.
 
Heh, I've recently have gotten this problem on my netbook. I was able to move my entire hard-drive off, but opening any folders caused it to crash. I really hope it doesn't take a couple MORE years to figure this out. No recent installations, recent viruses. Closing explorer in task manager fixes it, but I would really like to see inside my folders.
 
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