XP SP2 Installation made right-click on shortcut to *.exe slow

[Joe HM]

Hello -

I just installed SP2 for my XP (Professional) and now I get a very slow

response when right-clicking on a shortcut to any *.exe (it takes about

20-30 seconds for the context menu to pop up). This did not happen
with SP1.


I already tried programs like ShellEx and FileExtInfo but I am not able

to pinpoint the problem because it only occurs when right-clicking on a

shortcut to an *.exe. All other shortcuts have no delay.


I have a Novell Client (4.90.0.3 SP1a) installed but I disabled the
only entry it has in the context menu and there was still a huge delay.



Any ideas?


Thanks!
Joe

 

[Larry Gardner]

This is what I'd try:

1. Open Regedit
2. Locate HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile
3. Expand the branch ('+')
4. Locate shellex under above branch, and expand
5. Click on ContextMenuHandlers (or Expand if branch)

Now you will see what is called each time you right-click on a *.exe.

Does anything look out of place? My execfile\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers is
empty.
If not empty, each entry, if in the format of
{XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}, is a CLSID and you can search in the
registry under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Clsid for each key and determine what
application is being called for when you right click on a *.exe).

 

[Joe HM]

Hello -

Thanks for your response.

My HKCR\exefile\shellex does not have a ContextMenuHandler key or
branch. All it has are a DropHandler branch and a
PropertySheetHandlers branch.

The problem also does not occur when I right-click on a straight *.exe
file ... only when I right-click on a shortcut to a *.exe.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Larry Gardner]

Then follow the same steps for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile

lnkfile is the file type for shortcuts.

 

[Joe HM]

Thanks for the help!

I checked it out with ShellExView and found the culprit! The entry is
called "Offline Files Menu" and applies to the following extensions ...

*, .lnk, .pif, Directory, Drive, lnkfile, piffile
.... and calls cscui.dll.

I did a quick research on the Internet and found this article
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q307853&. I
went ahead and disabled Offline Files as they described and even with
the above entry in ShellExView enabled, I am not getting the delays
anymore.

Thanks again ...
Joe