explorer.exe randomly closes

[guytona]

Like the title says, explorer.exe (not the physical system, just the
visible windows GUI- desktop icons, taskbar, etc, though not programs I
have running) randomly exits on me. I've scanned for spyware and
viruses, and it seems to come up clean. This just started happening
today (I'm actually writing this in Firefox with explorer.exe not
listed as a process in Task Manager), and while it doesn't seem to be
hurting anything, it's seriously aggravating. When explorer.exe
crashes, no error messages come up- it's just as though I'd clicked
"End Process" on it myself. Also, I'm seeing my taskbar now, but no
applications show up on it, and when I move my mouse cursor over it, up
comes the hourglass, and I can't click on anything. This is really
strange. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Pennywise]

Like the title says, explorer.exe (not the physical system, just the
visible windows GUI- desktop icons, taskbar, etc, though not programs I
have running) randomly exits on me. I've scanned for spyware and
viruses, and it seems to come up clean. This just started happening
today (I'm actually writing this in Firefox with explorer.exe not
listed as a process in Task Manager), and while it doesn't seem to be
hurting anything, it's seriously aggravating. When explorer.exe
crashes, no error messages come up- it's just as though I'd clicked
"End Process" on it myself. Also, I'm seeing my taskbar now, but no
applications show up on it, and when I move my mouse cursor over it, up
comes the hourglass, and I can't click on anything. This is really
strange. Does anyone have any ideas?

Standard stuff

Do a system reinstall http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315341
I'm pretty sure you will lose no data, but I've never done it before
myself.

Or

In safe mode run SFC /SCANNOW
http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html

Both will replace vital files you might be missing or overwritten by
older versions.

Both require you have an up to date XP CD (has SP2) or you will need
to slipstream XP first
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp