Member Avatar for Danskin

I am running Windows XP Home on my laptop and keep getting the same problem recurring,i.e., Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and has to shut down. The desktop icons then vanish and reappear but my Giant spyware app. has invariably shut down and if I want it live again, have to reboot. I recently upgraded ram to 512mb., fron 256mb., but this has had no effect on this recurrent problem. As a relative novice to computers, I am at a loss as to how to solve this niggling error.
Danskin. :cry:

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by tayspen

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For — repeated “Windows Explorer has encountered a problem” failures are usually a symptom, not the root cause. Common underlying causes are third‑party shell extensions or context‑menu handlers, corrupted system files or icon cache, driver/video or user‑profile corruption, failing storage/RAM, or malware that hooks Explorer. The posts by and are on the right track; the suggestions below expand those checks with practical, ordered steps and a few quick fixes that avoid unnecessary reboots.

Recommended troubleshooting sequence (in order):

  • Boot to Safe Mode (F8). If Explorer is stable, suspect third‑party shell extensions or startup items. Perform a selective/clean boot (msconfig) to isolate the offending service or startup.

  • Capture the exact Explorer error from Event Viewer (Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer -> Application). The source and faulting module name can point to a driver or DLL.

  • Restart Explorer without rebooting: open Task Manager, End Process for explorer.exe, then File -> New Task -> type explorer.exe. This brings back desktop/icons and keeps logs for diagnosis.

  • Run System File Checker to repair system DLLs:

    sfc /scannow

  • Rebuild the icon cache and delete any corrupted desktop cache files in the profile (Local Settings\Application Data\IconCache.db), then restart Explorer.

  • Temporarily disable non‑Microsoft shell extensions (use a shell‑extension tool such as ShellExView) and observe whether crashes stop.

Hardware and disk checks (if crashes persist):

  • Run a bootable memory tester (Memtest86+) for several passes.

  • Run the hard‑drive maker’s diagnostic and schedule a full chkdsk if needed:

    chkdsk C: /f /r

Malware and logs: as recommended, full updated antivirus/anti‑malware scans are important. If using HijackThis, follow ’s advice: do not remove items blindly — post the log to an expert forum for analysis. When asking for help, include the exact Event Viewer error text, a HijackThis log, and whether Safe Mode/another user account is stable.

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Member Avatar for rasputinj

I would disable giant spyware app and see if it still crashes. If it does, I would run a chkdsk on the disk, test out your memory, run some programs like adaware, and antivirus scan to see if they pickup anything, and run hijackthis also.

Member Avatar for tayspen

and run hijackthis also.

If you do. do not remove anything yourself post a log in the spyware forum and you will be assisted. Also ijack this is located here. -

-T

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