Filetype association causing explorer hang.

[Steve Roberts]

This problem can be duplicated on any network. I have already found this
problem on 3 clients workstations.

I open a stand-alone executable from a unc path like
\\casper\ghost\Ghostexp.exe I then open a .gho file from inside that
program. When I close the program Windows assigns the .gho file type to
always open with \\casper\ghost\Ghostexp.exe. That seems fine except when
the .exe is deleted from the server. As soon as the file is deleted all
systems that reference it in their file type slow to a crawl when in
explorer and attempting to do anything to any file type. It seems like each
time you touch a file it goes through the file type assignments and makes
sure it can see each of the program associations. When it gets to the .gho
type it hangs for an extended period of time 30-45sec trying to find the
file.

My example uses UNC but I tested with a mapped drive and it does the same
thing.

The simple fix is to either delete the association or make sure the file is
on the network. But what I am looking for is a way to tell windows to stop
trying to resolve the associations. Or at least change the amount of time it
spends trying to resolve the association. If there is a fix then it can be
applied in advance to prevent the issue entirely

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Thanks in advance
Steve

 

[David Candy]

It's ghost doing it not windows. Windows doesn't automatically make extensions.

You can always change security on that key in the registry to prevent Ghost self repairing.

 

[Steve Roberts]

Actually you can do this using any program. Ghost is just the one that is
causing my headache. It is actually not even an 'installed' program. All I
did was browse my network places click on the .exe file then open a .gho
file. At that point windows makes the association to the .gho file type.
Which is not really the issue. The issue is that if the .exe disappears,
everything in windows explorer drags and hangs. If I right click on any type
of file after the .exe is gone, the system drags. As soon as I remove the
..gho from the file types everything works fine. I have tested this with
other programs and it is easily duplicated.

Where is the self repairing registry key located? I have never heard of it
before.

Thanks

Steve



It's ghost doing it not windows. Windows doesn't automatically make
extensions.

You can always change security on that key in the registry to prevent Ghost
self repairing.