Right-clicking causes RK Launcher to close

I'm running RK Launcher on a Windows XP computer.

For some reason, whenever I right-click on some icons to edit their settings (such as iTunes, which apparently needs some work before it will launch from RK?) I get the "The RK Launcher Has Encountered a Problem and Needs to Close" error message, and there goes the RK Launcher.

I can start it up again just fine, but I need to be able to get at these setting for RK to be a useful program in any respect.

I ought to mention that I've been having a problem with my right-click in Windows Explorer as well - perhaps the same problem, in fact, prompting Windows Explorer to close whenever I attempt to right-click any icons on my desktop or anything that has been pinned to my start menu.

It may be somewhat sporadic as well, as I have been able to right-click the trash icon without issue, but moving other icons to that side of the separator hasn't done any good. Perhaps the trash works because it has additional functions under right-click that other icons don't?

Perhaps, then, my problem is bigger than this application, but maybe someone can steer me in the right direction towards finding some help. I'd really like my right-click option back!

My only other qualm with this application is that for some reason the "Start with Windows" option is greyed out so that I can't select it. I put it on my Quick Launch in the Windows Taskbar so I can get to it quickly, but I'd like to have this option.

#491833

For the startup, you can get any application to run automatically on startup by putting a shortcut in the "Startup" folder in the All Programs section of the Start Menu.

For the RkLauncher closing error, that's obviously not due to Rk but a problem in your Windows. Since right-clicking prompts it, it could be a shell extension (to the context menu, maybe) gone awry. What programs did you install right before this began?

Edit: I found a nice page detailing the problem and solutions, try it and say if it works...http://windowsxp.mvps.org/slowrightclick.htm

#491841

Wow, thanks! I'm glad I asked.

I used the freeware download that website linked me to (ShellExView from nirsoft.net, listed under Method 2) to find and fix the problem with my right click. It turned out to be related to a program called "FreeZip" on this computer. (I actually inherited this machine when my grandfather died, apparently he had installed it. It's pretty much what it sounds like, some sort of freeware that can open .zip files.) The program wasn't a recent acquisition, so I'm not sure exactly why it started to malfunction now of all times.

Thanks for the tip on the Startup folder, too. It's nice to know, because I had some programs that were starting up automatically that I didn't want doing that. (Such as, someone tried to set up our printer to work remotely with this laptop - it doesn't work, but it always makes an effort when I boot up! Then there were a couple programs my grandpa used that I've since uninstalled, but that still had broken shortcuts in that folder.)

#491891