There are multiple instances of explorer.exe running in task manager (currently 7), each one using between 10-40MB of memory.

Anonymous
2009-11-03T00:15:23+00:00

Different explorer.exe processes are using cpu resources at different times.  I remember reading a while back that this could be a sign of a virus, but I've done a full scan with NIS 2010 and nothing showed up.  Can anyone give me pointers where to start investigating?

I did a clean install of Windows 7 last Friday -formatted HDD and all, so there hasn't been much time for anything bad to happen!

<Original title - There are multiple instances of explorer.exe running in task manager (currently 7), each one using between 10-40MB of memory.  I've never seen this in any previous version, and it doesn't look right to me. >

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Anonymous
2010-10-02T01:12:12+00:00

I found out what is causing the explorer.exe's to hang... If you give ANY arguments to explorer.exe in your shortcut/properties, to try to change the default directory from Libraries, it will hang.  For example, simply using "explorer.exe C:" will cause explorer task to hang whent you close it... by hang, i mean the window closes, but the process remains in memory.  I had 15 explorer.exe's tonight....  There are tips on the net about how to get explorer to default to My Computer (which I was using this tip -- i HATE it defaulting to Libraries which i NEVER use)..... so edit your shortcut, and take off any arguments to explorer.exe.  See if this fixes it!

As expected , the tech support is clueless on this I see.

PS -- I just figured out how to default Explorer to My Computer... Its weird, but it works...  Rightclick drag your My Computer icon on the desktop over to a blank space.  Create a shortcut....  Now unpin any Windows Explorer you have from your Taskbar... Now, left-click drag your My Computer shortcut to the taskbar.    Now, if you just click this, you go to Libraries.... BUT -- if instead you right-click it, you will see the My Computer shortcut, and select this, and it goes to My Computer.... and there are never any EXTRA explorer.exe's hanging around!

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-06-02T22:22:00+00:00

    I am having the same issue.  I do use uTorrent and I am supposing other software causes the same issue.  I found a PowerShell script online that looks at all instances of explorer.exe and stops all explorer processes except the biggest one.  the text is "Get-Process explorer | Sort-Object -descending CPU | Select-Object -Skip 1 ID | ForEach-Object -Process {Stop-Process -Id $_.ID}"  put this text (minus the quotation marks) in a text file and save it as filename.ps1.  You can then run this script with Windows PowerShell to save you some time.  Maybe Service Pack 14 will fix this one!

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-05-03T04:58:56+00:00

    I've at the least found some answers.... here they are 

    "

    • Hi there, Do you happen to use Utorrent?

    If so, it's a bug when you run Utorrent & use the option to  "open containing folder" of a torrent file..

    - Proposed As Answer by[Adnan\_EliXR](http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Profile/en-US/?user=Adnan_EliXR&amp;referrer=http%3a%2f%2fsocial.technet.microsoft.com%2fForums%2fen%2fw7itproperf%2fthread%2f81aff6d2-5ffb-4064-8bde-ccc4322a00dd%3fprof%3drequired&amp;rh=thWCXoAemf2NSanlnrC5VMIp67unfNowYKJaAIe79qc%3d&amp;sp=forums)a

    few seconds ago -

    Report As Abuse

    0

    THank you @ floyd11

    I too have many explorer exes, after reading your question, I went to utorrent 1.8.5 and used that option " Open Containing Folder" while my taskmanager was ON, on the top of all. And the more I open different files from that option, the more I saw explorer exes, and when I closed them all they were all gone in maybe 10+ seconds.

    While at this time, i have 3 explorer exes, which I don't know from where they are coming, 

    And process explorer shows, two are the sub categories of winnt.exe --> services.exe---> svchost.exe----> 2 explorer.exes there!

    While other explorer.exe is ( as I know the original one) it self a main category... and in it are utorrent and other programs are running....!

    Well, at least I am OK with multiple exes because I know I don't have any malware or virus lurking around or hidden in my computer...!

    THank you FLOYD11,

    AND thank you all who tried to help others, and thanks GREG for bringing this question up!

    !\[\](http://i1.social.microsoft.com/Forums/resources/images/trans.gif?cver=2.13.0068.3) 0

    Vote As Helpful

    I agree with floyd11, Bittorent shows the same bug. If you chose "open containing folder" it will open an windows explorer (explorer.exe), with 6,460 Kb  memory process (aprox. it varies a bit depending of window content) while the windows explorer is open. Once closed the "explorer.exe" process wont close, but it will change memory consumption down aprox. 1 mb.

    Also I suspected it to be a virus or malware, but computer has been scanned using Microsoft Security Essentials and it showed perfectly clean.

    Running Windows 7 Ultimate x32.

    The same behavior is not seen when windows explorer is opened manually. No aditional explorer.exe processer are shown in taskmanager.

    Seems its a bug with certain softwares and the way they interact with WPF, or something.

    Let me know what can I do to help debug the problem, I have moderate tech skills."""""

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-03-29T21:58:11+00:00

    I too have the same problem, however, it seems like people who know more about computer doesn't have this prob so they can't understand,..... ..... I too have this problem on every different kind of win 7 I installed....

    once there were more than 5 explorer.exes lol

    Same problem with people on all the blogs i've visited, but no solution yet... they can't even diagnose it.. lol

    !

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  4. Anonymous
    2009-12-27T19:41:19+00:00

    Start regedit and go to:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Explorer\ Advanced

    create a new or change the existing DWORD SeparateProcess entry to 0 .

    Does it help?

    "A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code" CLIP- Stellvertreter http://www.winvistaside.de/

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