Chuck said:
I'm running W2K. When ever I try to open Windows Explorer
[...] "The shell stopped unexpectedly and explorer.exe was restarted."
[From
http://forums.devshed.com/t23567/s.html ,
from
http://www.google.com/search?q=The+shell+stopped+unexpectedly+and+explorer.exe+was+restarted ]
"Winlogon (shell stopped unexpectedly)
I had a similar problem on one of my kids computers and was on the verge
of reinstalling windows when I finally found the cause.
On his computer, there was a pattern to the problem. If you tried opening
a windows app such as My Computer, Explorer, IE, every other attempt would
be OK, the next would result in desktop icons going away for a few seconds
and no window would open up. I would see in event manager the "The shell
stopped unexpectedly and Explorer.exe was restarted" message each time it
happened.
I finally pinned down the date it started and searched the computer for
all files created withing that 24 hours and found a directory c:\FTapp.
I then proceeded to find on the web at
http://vil.mcafee.com/dispVirus.asp?virus_k=99206&
that this is a trojan, low risk advertising/user monitor. I don't know who
installed it but I suspect maybe IMesh.
To get rid of it, you can try going to Add/Remove programs where there is
an uninstall. If not, go into regedit and search for 'ftapp' and delete
every instance where found. If it's found down a layer in a registery key,
go back up to the top of that key and delete the key itself. You will now
have to restart the computer and then delete the c:\FTapp directory.
Relief came immediately upon deleting the registry keys, even without
restarting the computer."
I.e., it could be that some app that tried to install itself (but failed
to do so entirely) is monitoring your activity, probably to try to redirect
you to client web sites.
HTH,
-Jeremy
