Windows Explorer crashes when I right click an .mp3 (or .wav) file

[Andy]

Strange problem ! :

Every time I right click an mp3 or wav file in Windows Explorer intending to
use the context sensetive menu to copy / delete etc., Explorer crashes
(screen clears then recovers to desktop with Explorer closed and a prompt to
send an error report to Microsoft).

It doesn't do this with other multimedia files, or any other file types. It
started happening yesterday for no obvious reason, I don't recall installing
any new software.

I have bodged round it by using a week old restore point, but would prefer
to know why this happened and be able to prevent/fix it in future without
regressing the system back and possibly causing other problems.

My PC is AMD 2400, 512MB, 80GB running XP (SP1)

Has anyone come across this problem?

Thanks

Andy

 

[Andy]

Hi Andy,

Seems no-one knows about this one - so I'll reply to myself <g> - just in
case anyone else has the same problem.

It turned out that I'd run Ad-Aware and deleted a spyware entry in the
registry which was identified as a possible browser hijack referring to a
blacklisted site.
The software which caused the problem was Accoustica MP3 to WAV converter.

Ad-Aware reported as follows :

Vendorossible Browser Hijack attempt
Categoryata Miner
Object Type:RegKey
Size:-
Location://www.regnow.com/softsell/nph-softsell.cgi?item=2841-2&affiliate=16
87"
Last Activity:28-06-2004
Risk LevelLow
Commentossible browser hijack attempt
Descriptionossible attempt to control\redirect the browser. This object
referrs to a "blacklisted" site.

The registry entry is :

HKEY_CURRENT_USER:Software\Accoustica\BuyAffiliate-2="https://www.regnow.com
/softsell/nph-softsell.cgi?item=2841-2&affiliate=1687

I don't know if this is really doing anything nasty or not, but deleting it
(via Ad-Aware) caused Windows Explorer to crash every time I right clicked
an MP3 or WAV file. I've fished the item back out of Ad-aware quarrantine,
and normal right click functionality has been restored. If anyone can tell
me anymore about this (like does it present any risk to my system/security)
I would be glad to hear from them.

Thanks

Andy

 

[Andy]

Ramman

Are you running Ad-aware or similar to remove spyware? Perhaps you have done
what I did and splatted something in the registry which handles right click
on bmp files? If so, do you run any shareware/'free'ware graphic handling
software which you could try reinstalling?

After backing up the offending registry entry I removed the 'softsell' key
(see below). Ad-aware is happy and right-click works OK again, so I'm happy


(or if the problem has only just started you could use system restore to
rewind a day or so to a time when things were working properly?)

Andy

Andy,
I'm having the same problem,except that it seems to be only happening

when I right click on a file with the extension .BMP I swithed the one file
extension to .jpg and it worked fine. Any ideas? Thanks

 

[Guest]

I had the same exact problem: couldn't right-click or delete any MP3 or WAV files for the last few weeks (would get "Windows has encountered an error message"). The error log showed as follows:

Faulting application explorer.exe, version 6.0.2800.1221, faulting module kernel32.dll, version 5.1.2600.1106, fault address 0x0001284a.

I tried several system restores, but none of them worked. I even tried "clean booting" XP with only Windows loaded services, and same problem still happened. This lead me to believe that the problem was with the Windows system and that I would have to re-install XP since it was really f***ed up!

Then I read a message here about deleting Acoustica MP3 to WAV Converter Plus (I had version 2.20.0.0 installed), so I tried it. Instantly, the problem went away and now everything seems fine again. I also use Adaware, but both Adaware and MP3 to WAV Converter Plus have been installed on my machine for a couple of years now. I'm really confused as to why this just recently happened (maybe new "spyware definitions" from Adaware?) - I emailed Acoustica to see if they know anything, but any other advice is welcome. If you are having this problem and have MP3 to WAV Converter Plus, I strongly recommend deleting it (using add/remove programs in control panel) before trying other solutions...it worked for me!

 

[Guest]

I think I found the answer! Check this out...weird, but I think it explains the problem I was having. Basically, if MP3 to WAV Converter is installed under ADMIN user name but later MP3 or WAV files are accessed by ANOTHER user name, then XP flakes out:

http://forums.techguy.org/printthread.php?threadid=189771