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
    2011-08-31T01:17:07+00:00

    There is a bug in Firefox - when you tell firefox to open containing folder of a file in the download directory, it spins a new instance of explorer.exe -

    James

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-08-02T19:49:17+00:00

    I know I'm a few years late on this reply, but the issue you described can be caused by Mozilla Firefox when using the "Open Containing Folder" selection in the context menu of the Download Bar, or any other application that launches an explorer window. Depends on the method they are using to spawn that window. It appears that the method Mozilla is using worked fine in XP, but does not work for Windows 7. I noticed a post about UTorrent as well. This application also has a menu option to Open a Containing Folder. which also worked fine on XP. This leads me to believe, that something has changed in the way Windows spawns an explorer window, and that the methods the 3rd party apps use, while they may work on XP, do not work in Win7...

    In any case, after I pinned it down to Firefox as being the culprit in MY case, I reported the bug. The link is posted below. The guys are working hard on it over there.

    https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=670068

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-04-17T01:27:00+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... See if this fixes it!

    PS -- I just figured out how to default Explorer to My Computer... and there are never any EXTRA explorer.exe's hanging around!  

    I had to come back here to the forum this evening after reading it this morning. I created an account -- just to thank you for the solution to this problem. So -- thanks!

    I used to have a single explorer.exe running; then I began using C:\ as a command line argument because I hated defaulting to Libraries since I rarely if ever use it, but I never made the connection.

    So now I laugh!  because plain ole Computer does the what I want, a nice clean Explorer (just plain Computer, not your way). Been using PCs since 1981, Windows since 1985 and didn't realize what Computer was good for. Duh...

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-04-13T16:46:55+00:00

    to get rid of mutliple running processes of the same name just do the following:

    start > run

    cmd.exe

    taskkill /f /im processname

    in this case it would be

    taskkill /f /im explorer.exe

    to restart the explorer process,

    ctrl + alt + del

    file > run

    explorer.exe

    note that windows does sometimes spawn multiple explorer's

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