Windows 7 Explorer. exe

[michael]

I had problems with my Explorer.exe through malware or a third-party program. I was getting the "no interface supported" when I tried to open Explorer..exe, so I then re-registered the DLLs and got Explorer.exe to work again. But when I type anything into the search box, the magnifying glass turns into an X, and I cannot search. Any suggestions?

PS: Sorry to be posting to this group. I don't see a working Windows 7 group.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Paul in Houston TX]

I had problems with my Explorer.exe through malware or a third-party
program. I was getting the "no interface supported" when I tried to
open Explorer.exe, so I then re-registered the DLLs and got
Explorer.exe to work again. But when I type anything into the search
box, the magnifying glass turns into an X, and I cannot search. Any
suggestions?

PS: Sorry to be posting to this group. I don't see a working Windows
7 group.

Thanks,

Mike

This one is very active:
alt.windows7.general

IMO, you are not missing much if Win7 search does not work.
Do a Google search for "Everything search" and install it.
It is a great search tool.

 

[Paul]

This one is very active:
alt.windows7.general

IMO, you are not missing much if Win7 search does not work.
Do a Google search for "Everything search" and install it.
It is a great search tool.

He's posting from Google (that is, if I'm reading the header right -
the header looks a bit different than I'm used to).

The thing is, Google does not archive alt.windows7.general, which
means posting from Google will be a problem. The only time alt.windows7.general
gets archived, is if a posting is cross-posted to more than one group,
and one of the other groups results in the message being archived.

To access alt.windows7.general, you need a real newsreader plus
a USENET server. The aioe.org server allows instant gratification,
in that no username/password is required (so you don't have to
tick the "send username/password" in the newsreader setup). It
is a text only server, with limited postings allowed per day. But
perfect for sending out a call for help.

AIOE has a web site. In it, you can determine the address to be
used in your USENET newsreader program. (I use Thunderbird for
my newsreader, but there are many other programs that work as well,
some as old as the hills. The older programs will use port 119 by
default.)

http://www.aioe.org/

nntp.aioe.org
Port 119 (Plain Text and TLS)

Port 119 is good enough for a first try. If you were using
authentication (the server required a username and password),
they would be sent in plaintext via port 119. Some of the
other ports, support encryption, so no third party can see
what you're posting.

When you download the newsgroup list from AIOE, alt.windows7.general
will be one of the groups in there. You "subscribe" to the group,
adding it to a list on the left hand side of your screen, and when
you click the group, the articles in there will become visible on
the right of your newsreader client.

(If I knew of a way to convince Google to add that group, I would
have done it by now. There is an official way, via "newgroup",
but alt.* is outside the Big8, and things are so unofficial,
you might never convince Google it was a legit group. Without
real email addresses to use with Googlites, it would be pretty
hard to reach the equivalent of an administrator.)

*******

It looks like someone in the second link here, is doing some
re-registering as well. Perhaps you could take a look at their
script, and see how your two solutions differ (yours versus
theirs).

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...internet/32fcce29-645e-4388-8f9e-e6436002272e

http://iefaq.info/index.php?action=artikel&cat=42&id=133&artlang=en

Paul

 

[Paul in Houston TX]

He's posting from Google (that is, if I'm reading the header right -
the header looks a bit different than I'm used to).

The thing is, Google does not archive alt.windows7.general, which
means posting from Google will be a problem. The only time
alt.windows7.general
gets archived, is if a posting is cross-posted to more than one group,
and one of the other groups results in the message being archived.

To access alt.windows7.general, you need a real newsreader plus
a USENET server. The aioe.org server allows instant gratification,
in that no username/password is required (so you don't have to
tick the "send username/password" in the newsreader setup). It
is a text only server, with limited postings allowed per day. But
perfect for sending out a call for help.

AIOE has a web site. In it, you can determine the address to be
used in your USENET newsreader program. (I use Thunderbird for
my newsreader, but there are many other programs that work as well,
some as old as the hills. The older programs will use port 119 by
default.)

http://www.aioe.org/

nntp.aioe.org
Port 119 (Plain Text and TLS)

Port 119 is good enough for a first try. If you were using
authentication (the server required a username and password),
they would be sent in plaintext via port 119. Some of the
other ports, support encryption, so no third party can see
what you're posting.

When you download the newsgroup list from AIOE, alt.windows7.general
will be one of the groups in there. You "subscribe" to the group,
adding it to a list on the left hand side of your screen, and when
you click the group, the articles in there will become visible on
the right of your newsreader client.

(If I knew of a way to convince Google to add that group, I would
have done it by now. There is an official way, via "newgroup",
but alt.* is outside the Big8, and things are so unofficial,
you might never convince Google it was a legit group. Without
real email addresses to use with Googlites, it would be pretty
hard to reach the equivalent of an administrator.)

*******

It looks like someone in the second link here, is doing some
re-registering as well. Perhaps you could take a look at their
script, and see how your two solutions differ (yours versus
theirs).

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...internet/32fcce29-645e-4388-8f9e-e6436002272e


http://iefaq.info/index.php?action=artikel&cat=42&id=133&artlang=en

Paul

Thank you Paul.

 

[Mayayana]

The OP was talking about Explorer. Your links are
about IE. Maybe he meant IE? That would mean he's
in the wrong group, asking about the wrong thing.

Whatever the mentioned problem with IE is, the
solutions at the links seem to be uncertain. At best
they're accidental fixes. Both are simply running COM
registration on "everything but the kitchen sink", in
hopes that an unregistered DLL somewhere is the
culprit. By using the /s switch (silent) the person
running the script misses the error messages that
would inform them that most of the DLLs cannot
be registered in the first place.

| It looks like someone in the second link here, is doing some
| re-registering as well. Perhaps you could take a look at their
| script, and see how your two solutions differ (yours versus
| theirs).
|
|
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...internet/32fcce29-645e-4388-8f9e-e6436002272e
|
| http://iefaq.info/index.php?action=artikel&cat=42&id=133&artlang=en
|
| Paul

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

IMO, you are not missing much if Win7 search does not work.
Do a Google search for "Everything search" and install it.
It is a great search tool.

It's fast, and it's OK. But Agent Ransack (also free) has much more
capability.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

 

[michael]

Thanks guys. I'll try to get a free lift to that newsgroup. The issue is with Explorer.exe, not Internet Explorer.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Mayayana]

You might also check Browser Extensions and Browser
Helper Objects (BHOs). Malware might install one of those
because it's an easy way to control and access *everything*
that happens in IE. But what goes to IE also goes to Explorer.
They're closely connected. So, for instance, if you had some
kind of malware cleaner that cleared out a suspicious file but
didn't clean its Registry setting then you might get an error
when a new Explorer window tries to load the extension and
can't find it.

Just a thought. The error you're seeing just means that
there's some kind of mixup with a COM interface....which could
be all sorts of things.

The Registry keys for Browser Extensions and Browser
Helper Objects are here:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions\

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper
Objects\

If IE is running OK you should be able to check add-ons
more easily through the "Manage Add-ons" option, but
there doesn't seem to be much info. available there. If
you don't know what a given item is there you can look
up in the Registry keys. The Extension keys are somewhat
informative. The BHO keys only list a CLSID, which must
then be looked up under HKCR\CLSID\ to find out what the
file is.

Another possible idea, but also some work, would be to
get procmon from sysinternals.com and run it while opening
a folder window. There's a good chance that you'll see a
failed Registry key read just before you get the error message.
That might help to narrow down the problem. But it's work
because Windows is incredibly busy with the Registry. Just
opening an Explorer or IE window can result in thousands of
nonsensical Registry reads, as Windows reads the same values
over and over again. Procmon (and regmon) has a filter function
for what it logs, but that's not always helpful if you don't know
what you're looking for.

--
--
| Thanks guys. I'll try to get a free lift to that newsgroup. The issue is
with Explorer.exe, not Internet Explorer.
|
| Thanks,
|
| Mike

 

[Jack Toff]

Here's the official MS Windows 7 forum:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7

 

[michael]

Thanks, Jack!

Mike

 

[Char Jackson]

I'd like to know if explorer in 7 can be configured with a command line
switch to open and expand the contents of the c: drive. I could do it
with XP by using the following: C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe /e,c: That
doesn't seem to work in 7.

Check this discussion for some suggested solutions.
<http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/111184-windows-explorer-command-line.html>

On my Win 7 systems I have Explorer open to Computer so that I can see
all of the drives at a glance, but on the XP system I'm posting from I
have it set to open the D:\ drive since that's where I do the majority
of my file management.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Or better yet, it's big brother, FileLocator Pro (not free, but has even
better filtering capabilities than its sibling, Agent Ransack)

I wasn't familiar with FileLocator Pro, but I just looked at its web
site. I see that it's $39. Can you tell me specifically what you see
as its advantages, and why they are worth that $39?

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

 

[Char Jackson]

Or better yet, it's big brother, FileLocator Pro (not free, but has even
better filtering capabilities than its sibling, Agent Ransack)

For the kind of searches I do dozens of times a day, neither of those
come close to Everything. The best tool depends on how you search.

 

[Nil]

It's fast, and it's OK. But Agent Ransack (also free) has much more
capability.

I have them both installed, but since 95% of my searches are for file
names, and Everything is orders of magnitude faster than Ransack,
Everything gets used almost all the time.

Ransack only gets used when I'm looking for content within files, or
date searches.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

For the kind of searches I do dozens of times a day, neither of those
come close to Everything. The best tool depends on how you search.

I use both Agent Ransack and Search Everything. Search Everything is
faster, but it doesn't let you search for text within files.
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

 

[Mayayana]

| I use both Agent Ransack and Search Everything. Search Everything is
| faster, but it doesn't let you search for text within files.

I haven't tried Search Everything, but it's hard for me
to imagine anything better than Agent Ransack. It's
very fast. If I'm searching for text in a file (my most
typical search) it shows me the context. It's simple,
sensible and functional. For me it *is* the Windows Find
applet. (It's the only item I have on Start -> Search.)

 

[Char Jackson]

| I use both Agent Ransack and Search Everything. Search Everything is
| faster, but it doesn't let you search for text within files.

I haven't tried Search Everything, but it's hard for me
to imagine anything better than Agent Ransack. It's
very fast. If I'm searching for text in a file (my most
typical search) it shows me the context. It's simple,
sensible and functional. For me it *is* the Windows Find
applet. (It's the only item I have on Start -> Search.)

Everything isn't for you. It's major cons are that it doesn't search
for text within a file, (I consider that a pro), and it doesn't search
network drives. On the plus side, it shows results in real time, as
you type. You stop typing when you've narrowed the results enough to
see the target. It suits my needs perfectly, but it's not for
everyone.

 

[Char Jackson]

I use both Agent Ransack and Search Everything. Search Everything is
faster, but it doesn't let you search for text within files.

Right, that's why I said it depends on how you search. To the best of
my knowledge, I've searched for text within a file only once or twice
in the past 15 years, so that's obviously not important to me. On the
other hand, I do dozens of searches a day and I always know all or
part of the filename, so Everything is perfect for me. Nothing is
faster than this amazing little tool.

Everything also doesn't directly search network drives, but you can
easily work around that by using its ETP/FTP/HTTP features. I always
have an RDP connection open to the other system that I need to search,
so I just flip to the RDP window and perform the search directly.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

It's more customizable. To wit:
For me, I find it useful to have specify a set of *excluded folders* in the
file date searches, since I often check for what has changed after program
is installed, or after a program update, and I don't want irrelevant folders
to come up and cloud the issue, with tons of irrelevant entries.
Irrelevant folders like:

C:\System Volume Information, or
C:\WINDOWS\Temp\Temporary Internet Files, or
C:\WINDOWS\Temp\History, or
C:\Documents and Settings\NetworkService, or
C:\WINDOWS\pchealth, or
C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\ or
C:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution, etc
which just clouds the issue for me, with numerous irrelevant entries).

But here is a link from their site comparing the two:
http://mythicsoft.com/Page.aspx?type=filelocatorpro&page=features

OK, thanks. I don't think those differences are worth $39 to me.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Right, that's why I said it depends on how you search. To the best of
my knowledge, I've searched for text within a file only once or twice
in the past 15 years, so that's obviously not important to me.

You're obviously right (for you). But I probably search for text more
often than any other kind of search.

On the
other hand, I do dozens of searches a day and I always know all or
part of the filename, so Everything is perfect for me. Nothing is
faster than this amazing little tool.

Right. And that's why I sometimes use it and sometimes use Agent
Ransack. Each is better in its own way.

Everything also doesn't directly search network drives, but you can
easily work around that by using its ETP/FTP/HTTP features. I always
have an RDP connection open to the other system that I need to search,
so I just flip to the RDP window and perform the search directly.

And since I almost never search network drives, that isn't important
to me.
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP