IS Windows Explorer or Registry Broken

[Tom Spence]

I've been running XP-Pro for 4.5 years. It's up to date with SP3.

A few days ago I found that something (no clue what) has corrupted
things because I get odd behavior from Windows Explorer. When I select
a file (or directory) and right-click I get the pop up box saying an
exception occurred and do I want to notify Microsoft. Also, when I
select and press the delete key, I get the same result. Also selecting
and clicking the big red X above gets the same result (but I can click
copy or move above and things are okay). The only way to delete a
file/directory is to drag to the recycle bin or go to the command line.

I want guidance about how do I determine if the fault is that the exe
file for explorer has been corrupted or is it the registry (or something
else).

If it's the exe file, how do I fix it -- I do have the original CD for
Windows (SP2).

Thanks in advance.

Tom Spence

 

[Leonard Grey]

If you truly have no idea what might be causing your problem (e.g.,
changes to hardware or software) then the most likely cause is malware.

For additional details that may help to explain what's going on, consult
Event Viewer.

 

[Ron Badour]

As Leonard says, malware is a good bet. I've had great luck with:
Anti-Malware 1.33, which can be downloaded from here:

http://www.download.com/Malwarebyte...l-10804572&subj=dl&tag=button&cdlPid=10997763

Since this problem is a recent occurrence, you could try a system restore to
a date prior to the onset of the problem.


--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

 

[db]

well, running the windows
operating system for many
years is not a flawless
operation.

a person still has to intervene
and perform general maintenance
on the system like a

chkdsk to reconcile the file
system with the master file
table

defrag to minimize fragmentation

cleanmgr to remove trash files
that clutter the system, waste
disk space, add to the disk
fragmentation and increase
the master file table.

the above are just a few
things to consider.

perhaps, you can start by
temporarily alleviating burdens
on your system by clicking on
start>run>msconfig

then disable all your startups
and reboot.

then click start>run>cleanmgr

and initiate the above

then run this:

http://onecare.live.com/site/en-US/article/registry_cleaner_why.htm

afterwards reboot and
see if your system performance
has improved.

if so, then re-enable your
startups, ensuring not to
enable any that have no
real benefit to your or your
system.
--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces

"share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Unknown]

You say you have had great luck with Anti-Malware 1.33. How are you GETTING
all the malware?

 

[Tom Spence]

I've been running XP-Pro for 4.5 years. It's up to date with SP3.

A few days ago I found that something (no clue what) has corrupted
things because I get odd behavior from Windows Explorer. When I select
a file (or directory) and right-click I get the pop up box saying an
exception occurred and do I want to notify Microsoft. Also, when I
select and press the delete key, I get the same result. Also selecting
and clicking the big red X above gets the same result (but I can click
copy or move above and things are okay). The only way to delete a
file/directory is to drag to the recycle bin or go to the command line.

I want guidance about how do I determine if the fault is that the exe
file for explorer has been corrupted or is it the registry (or something
else).

If it's the exe file, how do I fix it -- I do have the original CD for
Windows (SP2).

Thanks in advance.

Tom Spence

Irv Spalten's reply has fixed my problem. It was a problem arising from
Avanquest's Power Desk 7 (which their website says has something to do
with Norton Internet Security, which I run).

I would like to thank Irv in this oubkic forum.

I would also like to thank the other responders. In particular, I liked
the Malware program which Ron Badour proposed. Although it didn't fix
this problem it did find a strange thing in my registry which no other
registry scanner I've tried did.