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

I get so tired of this ____.  Why are we being put through hoops to "check to see if you have any critical events and what they are." as though this problem isn't common to every win7 64bit user.  GIVE ME AN ANSWER ! ! ! !   DON"T offer suggestions about defragging my harddrive to improve performance ?  Arrggghhhh !!!!!!!!

Hello LynnD1971,

So what happened when you put your system in a clean boot state?  When you checked the Reliability Monitor what critical events did you see?  Since this is a forum environment here is a link that you may find useful on how to ask a question.

One of the key elements is that you have a second system with Windows 7 running the same applications and is working with just one shell process.

Your follow-up response would suggest that your issues happen when plugging in an additional hardware component.  Since there are many manufactures that make that type of hardware, telling the community what specific hardware you are using might help in narrowing down a solution for you.

I would first check with your 3rd party manufacture to see if they are aware of any problems relating to their hardware.

Are there any other scenarios in which you are receiving a blue screen?  Something that may be helpful is reviewing your memory dump file.  It would be best to upload it to your SkyDrive and sharing it so we can view it.

If all fails I would recommend you do a repair install.

I hope this answers your questions, if you require further assistance please come back and post, we are more than happy to help you out.

Regards,

Edgar

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

Edgar

I do have win7 drivers for all my hardware. The machine is a Dell Studio 1737 laptop and the only addition is a second internal hard drive and a memory upgrade.

The extra explorer processes appear to be spawning any time I plug in external storage, whether USB, eSATA or SDHC.  The processes never close, and do not show any activity once the device initially installs.  The process does not end when the device is stopped using correct eject procedure.  Once the reaches a certain critical number of these processes (around 8 or 9), it bluescreens when one more is added.

Now, it may surprise you to hear that fixing Windows bugs is not my full time job. I don't have time to run around like a blue ____ fly uninstalling and reinstalling software over and over.  These are my personal machines, and I use them to do actual work on.  I'm not being paid to fix the. YOU ARE.

Please come back to me with some useful information about this obvious bug in device management, and don't expect me to work over Christmas to work through assembler language to find the problem for you.

If it's too difficult for you, tell me what logs to send and then ESCALATE the F-ing problem please!

Regards

Lynn Duffy

Hello LynnD1971,

Thank you for posting on Microsoft Answers Forums.

Seeing as you have the same setup on another machine and that works as you wanted, let’s make sure you have Win7 drivers for all your hardware.  Also as a troubleshooting step put the system in a Clean Boot state and see if you continue that have that issue.  If you don’t, re-enable some of the programs a couple at a time and see if there is a certain application that is causing this behavior.

Start>Search “Reliability Monitor” check to see if you have any critical events and what they are.

I hope this answers your questions, if you require further assistance please come back and post, we are more than happy to help you out.

Regards,

Edgar

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.