Windows Explorer Has Stopped

[CNCRaymond]

Hello,

Let me prepuces this by saying that my system is clean and I am for the most part computer literate.

I am running into an issue that I cannot seem to find any sort of resolution for. Whenever I right click on a drive, say C, under the windows explore menu, I get a windows error message stating that windows explorer has stopped responding and must restart. This effectively keeps me from using my right click menu on any drive or folder in those drives. I can access the drive and any folder, I just cannot right click on any of them. Right click works everywhere else so I think the issue with the shell extension menu itself.

I have done the following. Ran Hijack this, Malwarebytes, Essentials, Avast, Spybot, ccleaner, and all have come up clean with no issues. I have gone into the registry and edited the shell menu removing WinRar folder as directed by fix video on youtube. https://youtu.be/H-TVDF6I2lk Again no success.

I have ran sfc /scannow and a memory check. Both have come up clean with no issues. Although sometimes after running SFC /Scannow the issue resolves for a short time.

This is a new issue that just creeped in a few months back and has become systemic now. That means everything runs fine after start or reboot but then shortly thereafter issue comes back.

I am only running essential start up programs, Malwarebytes, spybot, dropbox, power management for my ups, and windows essentials, and my Nvidia display drivers. All other programs have been disabled.

Any thoughts or suggestions on resolving the issue would be greatly appreciated. As always thank you for any help.


Intel core I5 4690k - 3.50 ghz
16 Gigs Corsair Vengeance DDR 3 - GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK
Seagate 240 Gig SSD - boot / OS - 1 TB WD Green Sata II 3/0 GB 16mb 7200 RPM (Slave 1)
500 Gig WD Green Sata II 3/0 GB 16mb 7200 RPM (Slave 2)
Corsair 500R case - H60 CPU cooler - M60 Gaming Mouse - K90 Keyboard
Corsair 750 watt PS - A
Cyberpower 1000wt UPS
EVGA GTX 770 FTW - Nvidia: 355.98
OS: Win 7 x64 - Asus VS239, VS228

[Timster]

Does the same thing happen in safe mode?

[Compton]

how many antivirus are you running on the computer ?

[CNCRaymond]

Hello, Yes it does also appear to be happening in safemode. And right now only Avast and Windows Essentials as well asMalwarebytes. This has been the a/v set up for two years now.

[Partha]

Please keep just one antimalware product that works in real time. Make your choice about the one you want to keep and remove the others

I understand that it's been your setup for two years but it's not a recommended setup, and can cause performance issues regardless of the hardware specs and can cause conflicts, which can lead to some other serious issues

I came across this article at https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/kb/2694911 which can help. Please follow the steps until the ones meant for a system restore and an in-place upgrade and let us know the results

[Compton]

How to Test Your Hard Drive Using SeaTools for Windows

how to check your hard drive health status with crystal disk info

[Timster]

Try running Sirefef Cleaner. This will repair/reset all of your Windows Services

[CNCRaymond]

Hello, Thank you for all the help.
As Administrator I have Done:
The ONLY services running at start up now are Avast and Nvidia Display Driver.

I have followed the MS process recommendation regarding this issue. Was one of the first things I did including a clean boot.
I have tested the SSD and all other drives using crystal disk and used the seagate tools
I have tested the other Drives using the Seagate tools as well as the ones provided by Western Digital.
The Sirefef Cleaner only starts then tells me to press any key then quits.
SFC /scannow finds no issues.
The drives all come back clean and 100%.

The problem is still present - occurs almost instantly now.

Ever since Windows 10 has become available for download my windows 7 system has encountered a host of ODD issues. This leads me to suspect that Microsoft is deliberately causing issues on NON windows 10 systems in order to force people to install Windows 10. When I tried to upgrade to Windows 10 back in September and again in December, and one last time in February the same issue with that caused a roll back always occurred. That being the USB ports stopped working and even the MS tech support (The costly one) couldn't resolve the issue.

I am prepared to do fresh / clean re-install of windows 7 pro onto this machine out of shear frustration. But doing to will cause all sorts of issues with back up drives, file locations, etc. A nightmare that I am desperately trying to avoid. Again, I had no issues at all with this system until Windows 10 pre-installed. Ever since then and especially after the three (two of which I did not authorize) upgrades to windows 10 and roll backs to windows 7 pro. (Let me be clear about this, two of the upgrades occurred WITHOUT my approval which leads me to honestly believe that this issue and many issues people face now are intentionally caused by MS in order to force people to upgrade to windows 10.)

[Compton]

do you want to upgrade to windows 10? you can disable it
to see if the problem goes away

prevent upgrades to Windows 10

[Partha]

(04-28-2016, 05:35 PM)CNCRaymond Wrote:  I am prepared to do fresh / clean re-install of windows 7 pro onto this machine out of shear frustration. But doing to will cause all sorts of issues with back up drives, file locations, etc.  A nightmare that I am desperately trying to avoid.  Again, I had no issues at all with this system until Windows 10 pre-installed. Ever since then and especially after the three (two of which I did not  authorize) upgrades to windows 10 and roll backs to windows 7 pro.  (Let me be clear about this, two of the upgrades occurred WITHOUT my approval which leads me to honestly believe that this issue and many issues people face now are intentionally caused by MS in order to force people to upgrade to windows 10.)

I don't understand how your Windows 7 upgraded to Windows 10. As far as I know, only those devices with Windows 8.1 received the free upgrade and so could you please shed some light on this?