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
    2013-02-07T21:45:32+00:00

    Thank you so much! This problem caused me to lose a half-day of work - it could have been more if I hadn't found your post!

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-02-07T19:46:11+00:00

    Thank you very much - this problem irritated me SO much, and this helped perfectly :D

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-04-25T17:16:46+00:00

    Hi, just fixed my "right click" problem with Shell exView. Found the bad extension on first disable. It was the VirtualClone Drive.  Thanks

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-03-12T17:08:20+00:00

    Hi Ramesh,

    I found TortoiseSVN client is the root cause for explorer crashing. Could you help me?

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