explorer.exe problems

windows explorer won't let me open any windows!

The start menu and taskbar appear fine, so does the desktop, but if i click any folder everything disappears then explorer restarts, as if nothing happened.

i can open any other program so currently im getting around using the "save as" dialogue in firefox but how can i fix explorer? i've tried replacing mine from a backup and it didnt work, now its lost on me.

i did a spyware search with adaware and s&d and also a virusscan, they havent picked up anything!

nobody seems to have had this problem, from a quick google search it seems.

#400608

1. Tags

2. What OS?

3. What did yo do before this problem started?

/Thread tagged

#400609

1. whoops sorry

2. Windows XP pro sp2

3. Er, i don't remember but i havent made any major system changes since i reformatted and reinstalled windows about a week back

#400614

Slewed are you using styler ?

#400619

Get your XP cd, stick it in your drive

open a command prompt [if you can] and type

sfc /scannow

hit enter and windows will search for and replace any files in the os that are corrupt

#400635

never mind, i re-reformatted xp, this time i installed antispyware and a firewall before updating windows, last time i think spybot s&d or one of the other tools i used must have wrenched an important piece of info from most of the computer while dragging out a lotta spyware.

#400883

right this problem reoccured on my computer. This time, i have solved it.

As before, opening any window caused explorer to crash, therefore i thought it must be a browser helper object (or some context menu item) that made it crash. I found this nice program called shellexview, that let me see all things loaded into explorer (including awtqnkh.dll which is winantivirus, and vtstr.dll, which i dont know but seemed to crash it too).

This program highlights all non microsoft extensions and allows you to disable them, so i disabled the nasty looking ones, and voila!, explorer allowed me to open a window without crashing!

link to this program:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html

If there is a dll without a manufacturer (or even a description) its probably the problem one

#419647

@ Slewed

Thanks for the link. Nice program.

#419676

Yeah, I really like NirSoft's apps--especially MyUninstaller.

-NC

#419765