General Question

shared3's avatar

Why is explorer.exe freezing Windows XP?

Asked by shared3 (921points) July 23rd, 2007

When shutting down, my computer is unable to shut down properly. explorer.exe freezes and I am forced to open up Task Manager and kill it manually. Then, the freeze is over, but Windows still won't shut down. Furthermore, once in a while, when opening some Explorer windows, explorer.exe will freeze and I am forced to kill it through Task Manager. explorer.exe shows no CPU activity, no RAM fluctuations, and doesn't read or write any data.

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5 Answers

trifler's avatar

Or, even better, try PC alternatives like Mac or Linux.

trifler (21points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
KingVitamin's avatar

Well, it's either got to be a hardware or a software problem. Often, I find that Spyware/Viruses load add-ons into Explorer that can make it crash or refuse to terminate. If possible, boot into "Safe Mode with Networking" and run a scan with Trend Micro's HouseCall (housecall.trendmicro.com). If that still doesn't turn anything up, try running the free memory test called memtest86. Some glitchey RAM could have corrupted your install.

KingVitamin (3points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
martijn86's avatar

Insert the Windows install CD, open RUN, enter sfc /scannow.
This will scan for abnormalities in your system files and get’s the original from the Windows CD if there is aproblem detected.

Helps a lot of times to prevent a forced complete reinstall. After everything works again though, best is to prepare a clean install a.s.a.p.!

martijn86 (401points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
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