Windows Explorer problems

Mad · Post by **Mad** » 2004-01-15 12:29pm

Okay, I'm running Win98SE, and for a while I've had a problem with Windows Explorer having odd behavior. I'm hoping someone here has some idea as to what could be going on, and that there's a way to fix it without doing a full reinstall.

It started at about the time I installed an ATI Rage 128 PCI card. The card is no longer installed and I've removed all the ATI stuff that I know of. The problems persist, though. Not sure if they're actually related, but it's the closest change I can think of that'd do it.

The problems are as follows:

When copying (or deleting) a large number of files (or a few large files, it seems) using Windows Explorer, Explorer will freeze once the operation is completed.

When this occurs, programs like Wintop report a large number of threads in explorer.exe, which slowly run down to some number (about 15 or so, I think). I can't use the desktop or affected windows until the threads trickle down. After this occurs, it's easier to freeze Explorer again. When frozen, the affected windows will not refresh, and will typically continue to display whatever was over top of them previously until removed. Often, the taskbar and start menu are also affected.

Copying single files does not seem to cause the problem.

Problems that don't appear to have a specific trigger are that sometimes, Explorer windows will not pop up immediately, instead, it seems they are put in some kind of queue. I'll, say, try to bring up an Explorer window or two with Win+E, and nothing will appear until I start closing random windows. Often an easier way is to just go to the desktop, open up My Computer (which will open immediately, despite being another Explorer window), then close it. The queued windows will then immediately display. When this problem begins to occur, it usually stays until the system is rebooted.

A nastier problem is that occasionally, after having an Explorer window open for some time, closing it will cause an illegal operation error. At times, closing the message box will simply bring up another one, which will continue to occur until the system is restarted. If not careful, these can also lead to a never-ending string of blue screens of death. (Oddly, closing an Internet Explorer window doesn't cause this. I don't use IE anymore, of course...)

I run SpyBot: S&D and AdAware regularly to keep my system free of spyware.

Any ideas, short of a complete reinstall?

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-01-15 12:36pm

Too many background processed and too little RAM is the main suspect. I suggest increasing virtual memory and reducing the number of programs running when copying files. Also leave some free space (at least 1 gigabyte) in the harddisk where your page file is located. And do not forget to defragment the hard drive regularly.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2004-01-16 12:10am

Mad, what you've got there is a classic case of Windows Rot. I'd say its about time to back things up (don't forget your Windows Update folder....yes, in 9x it doesn't delete the updates after installing them) and just nuke Windows and start over clean.

Mad · Post by **Mad** » 2004-01-16 12:27am

Thanks for the responses so far.

evilcat4000 wrote:Too many background processed and too little RAM is the main suspect. I suggest increasing virtual memory and reducing the number of programs running when copying files. Also leave some free space (at least 1 gigabyte) in the harddisk where your page file is located. And do not forget to defragment the hard drive regularly.

Considering the threads thing and that this happens no matter what's running (and 256 megs of RAM on a 98SE system is gonna be enough, I'm sure), I doubt those are the issues.

If anything, I figured it'd be some corrupted .dll or some strange extention added by drivers I installed. Or perhaps something running in the background I haven't found.

Vertigo1 wrote:Mad, what you've got there is a classic case of Windows Rot. I'd say its about time to back things up (don't forget your Windows Update folder....yes, in 9x it doesn't delete the updates after installing them) and just nuke Windows and start over clean.

... And that's precisely what I was hoping it wasn't. Might have to end up doing it, after all, I suppose...

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2004-01-16 01:07pm

Rather than simply reinstalling 98SE, why not go up to XP Pro? I've had no Windows Rot with it, and its very stable, as long as you don't do anything too insane.