"iexplore.exe is not responding"

[Bert Smith]

Hi all,

Occasionally, when I attempt to shutdown XP Pro SP1, I get the message that
"iexplore.exe is not responding". At the time no applications are running
as shown in Task Manager. However, iexplore.exe is shown as a running
process in Task Manager, Processes. Internet Explorer has been used, with
at times multiple windows of it open.

Any one any idea what is going on and how it can be overcome? Thanks in
advance. Please address any replies to the news group. My email address is
false. Bert Smith

 

[luminos]

Blame MS for poor multithreaded coding.

 

[Kelly]

Hi Bert,

See if this helps:

This edit automatically ends tasks and timeouts that prevent programs from
shutting down and clears the Paging File on Exit.

Auto End Tasks to Enable a Proper Shutdown (Line 76)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

If this were the case other than shutdown and still may apply:

Ad-Aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Spybot
http://tinyurl.com/btf8

CWShredder (Line 313)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Hijack This
http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

Free Online Virus Scan
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

 

[Bert Smith]

Hi Kelly

My sincere and grateful thanks for your post. I have checked for spyware
using the latest build of Ad-Aware. Negative. I have also checked using
Andrew Clover's script at http://doxdesk.com/parasite/, once again with
negative results.

Is there an undo for the patch you suggest? If not I will use system
restore (in case of Murphy's Laws!).

I will let this group know how I get on.

Cheers and best wishes,

Please address any replies to the news group. My email address is false.
Bert Smith

 

[Bert Smith]

Hi all

This problem of the shutdown error message "iexplore.exe not responding" is
much more common than what I first thought.
Here is what I have discovered during the past 2 weeks:
1.) It can be caused by viruses/Trojans/worms/parasites, but all tests for
nasties are negative on my machine.
2.) It is more common when the contemporary view, rather than the old
classic view of the start menu is adopted.
3.) In some cases it has been solved by using Steve Gibson's dcombobulator
to disable DCOM. (www.grc.com). This did not work for me.
4.) It is associated with the shutdown error message "DDE server window is
not responding". I have seen this message too.
5.) It is more likely to occur if several web windows are open and a
download is taking place at one of them, or if CTRL C and CTR V has been
used for copying and pasting bits of web pages into (say) Word XP.
6.) It may be related to whether a router/switch/modem is using a PPPoE DSL
connection. (I am currently investigating this.)

Yesterday, I used msconfig to run a selective startup. The whole process,
took 2 hours. First just load system services and system.ini, then add
win.ini, then add non MS services one by one, then add start up items one by
one. Many reboots needed! In between, I tested to see if I could reproduce
the problem. Guess what? No luck! However, on opening 3 web pages, and
downloading the latest SP3 for Office XP, the problem appeared immediately
after the download had finished. When I went back in to the Office XP SP3
page, XP told me that the download was still in progress!

Any one shed any light on this? I have run sfc /scannow with no problems
detected and all IE6 SP-1 settings are the default!

Please address any replies to the news group. My email address is false.
Bert Smith