windows explorer crashes on right click

Anonymous
2009-03-30T20:59:37+00:00

Whenever I right click on a file in Windows Explorer I get a message that Windows Explorer has stopped working and then it shuts downto the desktop.  I am running Windows Vista Home Premium on a Gateway GT5228. It has 2 GB of ram and 140GB unused on the hard drive.  I have been running Vista for about a year and the problem just started about a week ago.  I hope somebody has a suggestion because at the moment I can't delete or rename anything.  I have run an antivirus and antispyware programs and have found nothing.  Any ideas will be greatly appreaciated.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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Ramesh 181.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2009-03-30T21:40:54+00:00

Hi ranma100,

Right-click crashes are caused by third-party shell extensions. You may use the excellent ShellExView tool to isolate the problem. For more information, see "Method 2" in article Right-click is slow or weird behavior caused by context menu handlers.

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Desktop Experience]

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-09-06T00:28:52+00:00

    Thanks much!  This took care of my problem as well.  It was caused by a context menu extension by NVIDIA.  I hope my monitor still works okay with it disabled; so far so good.

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  2. Ramesh 181.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2013-08-03T10:31:24+00:00

    Thanks Ramesh, ShellExView works great.  Found the offender easily it was in the name:

    "SpyBotSearch and Destroy Explorer Integration"

    Rex 

    YW Rex. Glad to have helped.

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  3. Ramesh 181.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2013-08-03T10:29:59+00:00

    I found that shellex was not specific enough to figure out the problem. After disabling every single non microsoft entry there was no improvement.

    I found a better way of figuring out my problem. I downloaded WhatIsHang(also made by shellex) and i fired this up while my context menu was hanging.

    It showed that it was picasa3 which is not installed on my pc anymore was causing the hang. I fixed the problem by installing picasa3 again and then uninstalling it. now my context menu works again.

    Thanks for the excellent feedback, holymoses. WhatIsHang is already on my checklist... hope I can write some troubleshooting guide so that it helps users.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-08-02T06:24:31+00:00

    Thanks Ramesh, ShellExView works great.  Found the offender easily it was in the name:

    "SpyBotSearch and Destroy Explorer Integration"

    Rex

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