Right click on any folder icons freezes process...

Hi All:

I'm having a new challenge on my recently SP2 updated XP
Pro notebook (w/Athlon XP-M cpu, 1gb RAM, plenty of
available HD space)... If I attempt to right click on a
folder icon located anywhere (on the desktop or within
another folder space), that process displays an hourglass,
and is frozen for approximately 2+ minutes. Afterwards,
the hourglass goes away, normal control is returned to the
process, but my requested right-click menu is never
displayed. Prior to SP2, I would also sometimes notice a
delay in this routine (at worst 3 or 4 seconds... never
this huge delay), but it would always conclude
successfully with the requested pop-up window.

I've tried ControlPanel/System/Advanced/optimizations...
these noticably sped up my gui (at the expense of some
frivilous eye candy)... but didn't do a thing for my
problem.

Without this right-click-on-folder capability, my
otherwise solid OS is essentially crippled. I've googled
the issue, and the only thing I come up with is "rolling
back out of SP2"...

I'd rather not, but... is there any other option for me ?

Thanks for your time & attention.

Bill Goodbot

There are several causes for this type of problem. Try removing 3rd party
apps that are known to cause this (ie Divx, Spysweeper) and see if that
helps. If not, try looking through these forums for the drag 'n' drop
registry fix that also has been found. There may be other solutions, try
looking at other posts in these forums as I have seen many posts that talk
about right click problems. Your question has been asked before. Hope you get
it sorted.

"Bill Goodbot" wrote:

> Hi All:
>
> I'm having a new challenge on my recently SP2 updated XP
> Pro notebook (w/Athlon XP-M cpu, 1gb RAM, plenty of
> available HD space)... If I attempt to right click on a
> folder icon located anywhere (on the desktop or within
> another folder space), that process displays an hourglass,
> and is frozen for approximately 2+ minutes. Afterwards,
> the hourglass goes away, normal control is returned to the
> process, but my requested right-click menu is never
> displayed. Prior to SP2, I would also sometimes notice a
> delay in this routine (at worst 3 or 4 seconds... never
> this huge delay), but it would always conclude
> successfully with the requested pop-up window.
>
> I've tried ControlPanel/System/Advanced/optimizations...
> these noticably sped up my gui (at the expense of some
> frivilous eye candy)... but didn't do a thing for my
> problem.
>
> Without this right-click-on-folder capability, my
> otherwise solid OS is essentially crippled. I've googled
> the issue, and the only thing I come up with is "rolling
> back out of SP2"...
>
> I'd rather not, but... is there any other option for me ?
>
> Thanks for your time & attention.
>
> Bill Goodbot
>
>

This problem only surfaced after installing the SP2... I liked SP2, and
besides this show-stopper, it appeared stable. I tried trouble-shooting this
issue for 2 days... I lost alot of personal time on this. I finally decided
to roll out of SP2... I did that... and the problem is still here. The
desktop/gui also appears unstable now (back under SP1)... A desktop pop-up
box appeared long after requested, and now stays on the fore-front of all
screens.

I'm a very active tech-player on this box... constantly installing and
testing new software... it's probable that some piece of SW recently played
with did this... It's very discouraging that, despite my tech saviness, I've
lost use of this box... I'll next do the most basic thing possible... find my
original (Compaq Presario) system CDs and reinstall the original XP Pro
system files...

Hopefully I won't need to reformat the HD... but I will if the system reload
doesn't eliminate this serious bug...

Bill Goodbot

PS: If "Giga" is a volunteer... Thank you kindly for your time & attention.
If, however, "Giga" is a paid support person... then you ought to be
reprimanded for your vacant reply ..."this is a common problem", "look
elsewhere for a answer", etc. A search of your support news-group turns up
nothing specific to my issue... hence, your reply is no reply... IOW, vacant
words. Anyway... I'm on my own here... you're ZERO help to me in this
circumstance...



"Giga" wrote:

> There are several causes for this type of problem. Try removing 3rd party
> apps

Bill,

Right click causes and error and crashes Explorer.exe after installing
Windows XP SP2?:
http://www.winxptutor.com/sp2/divxcrash.htm

Right-click is slow or weird behavior caused by context menu handlers:
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/slowrightclick.htm

--
Ramesh, Microsoft MVP
Window XP Shell/User
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k


"Bill Goodbot" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:053d01c493fc$e1a64b30$a401280a@phx.gbl...
Hi All:

I'm having a new challenge on my recently SP2 updated XP
Pro notebook (w/Athlon XP-M cpu, 1gb RAM, plenty of
available HD space)... If I attempt to right click on a
folder icon located anywhere (on the desktop or within
another folder space), that process displays an hourglass,
and is frozen for approximately 2+ minutes. Afterwards,
the hourglass goes away, normal control is returned to the
process, but my requested right-click menu is never
displayed. Prior to SP2, I would also sometimes notice a
delay in this routine (at worst 3 or 4 seconds... never
this huge delay), but it would always conclude
successfully with the requested pop-up window.

I've tried ControlPanel/System/Advanced/optimizations...
these noticably sped up my gui (at the expense of some
frivilous eye candy)... but didn't do a thing for my
problem.

Without this right-click-on-folder capability, my
otherwise solid OS is essentially crippled. I've googled
the issue, and the only thing I come up with is "rolling
back out of SP2"...

I'd rather not, but... is there any other option for me ?

Thanks for your time & attention.

Bill Goodbot

Thanks for the feedback Bill.

Removing {969223c0-26aa-11d0-90ee-444553540000}from here, will be enough:

HKCR\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\

--
Ramesh, Microsoft MVP
Window XP Shell/User
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k


"Bill Goodbot" <BillGoodbot@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BFAAF9A0-F3D3-4CEE-9500-8403499370BE@microsoft.com...
Hi Ramesh :

Thanks for this USEFUL info...

OK... after a few hours over here of frequent re-boots, I finally got a hold
of my own particular culprit... my problem didn't turn out to be "DivX"
(which I've never loaded or used... does this come with the OS?)... but
inevitably (after ALOT of searching, investigation & rebooting) a recently
installed version of PGP 8.1 (that I loaded out of curiousity and never
used)... the immediate culprit was this entry in my registry:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{969223c0-26aa-11d0-90ee-444553540000}]

Deleting this guy totally eliminated my problem.

My next question: A further search of my registry for this same UID turned
up 5 additional instances (besides this one above I deleted). These are :

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{969223c0-26aa-11d0-90ee-444553540000}

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
CLSID\{969223c0-26aa-11d0-90ee-444553540000}

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\{969223c0-26aa-11d0-90ee-444553540000}

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{969223c0-26aa-11d0-90ee-444553540000}

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell
Extensions\Approved{969223C0-26AA-11D0-90EE-444553540000}


I'm content to give up on this PGP 8.1 Desktop package (this "commercial"
implementation anyway) at this time... Should I delete all of these
additional 5 reg entries ?

So far... I'm running fine with them hanging out in the registry... but for
efficiency & cleanliness sake... should I simply delete these ?

Otherwise... Thanks again for your pointing me in the useful direction of
the two great resources you mentioned above (winxptutor.com & mvps.org...
GREAT resources!!... and your excellent links page over at
www.mvps.org/sramesh2k !!)...

I'm now spending my daylight hours over here reading "MS WinXP Registry
Guide" by Jerry Honeycutt... Next time this sort of thing happens again (and
I suspect it certainly will)... I'll be on top of it quickly!!

Thanks again... you're my hero! Now about these other 5 instances ?

Bill Goodbot


"Ramesh [MVP]" wrote:

> Bill,
>
> Right click causes and error and crashes Explorer.exe after installing
> Windows XP SP2?: