Explorer crashes viewing folder

[Eric]

My computer is clean of all spyware/adware, and I have
done the necessary updates. However, when I view a
folder that has about 20 picture files in it (they are
about 3mb in size each), mid way while loading the
thumbnails Windows Explorer crashes. I have tried to
explore or change the view type to 'list' but same
result. I cannot access this folder now because every
time I open it it crashes.

The first error message is that Windows Explorer has
experienced an error. Sometimes a 2nd one may appear
saying that DrWatson Postmortem Debugger has experienced
an error. After that I have to end task because Explorer
freezes up.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

If your system is clear of viruses and malware, open Control Panel, open
System, go to
the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery, remove the
check from "Automatically Restart" under System Failure. This will cause
the system to blue screen instead of restarting on errors and the
information on the blue screen may give a clue as to the source of the
issue.

Open Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, open Event Viewer, look for
errors corresponding to the crash, double click the error, the information
contained within may give a clue as to the
source of the problem. If you don't understand the information inside, the
third button down in that dialog box will copy the information,
you can then paste it into a message and post it here and maybe we can
figure out what is going on.

Assuming you have an XP CD and not a recovery CD, place the XP CD in the
drive, when the setup screen appears, select "Check System Compatibility,"
the report it generates may point to problem hardware or software on your
system. If you do not have an XP CD, you can download this application
known as the Upgrade Advisor from the following site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/advisor.asp
Note: If you have access to a broadband connection it might be best to
download using that as this is a rather large download.