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

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&referrer=http%3a%2f%2fsocial.technet.microsoft.com%2fForums%2fen%2fw7itproperf%2fthread%2f81aff6d2-5ffb-4064-8bde-ccc4322a00dd%3fprof%3drequired&rh=thWCXoAemf2NSanlnrC5VMIp67unfNowYKJaAIe79qc%3d&sp=forums)a

few seconds ago -

Report As Abuse

• !\[\](http://i1.social.microsoft.com/Forums/resources/images/trans.gif?cver=2.13.0068.3)Reply
  • !\[\](http://i1.social.microsoft.com/Forums/resources/images/trans.gif?cver=2.13.0068.3)Quote
• a few seconds agoAdnan\_EliXR

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)Reply
  • !\[\](http://i1.social.microsoft.com/Forums/resources/images/trans.gif?cver=2.13.0068.3)Quote
  • !\[\](http://i1.social.microsoft.com/Forums/resources/images/trans.gif?cver=2.13.0068.3)Propose As Answer
  • !\[\](http://i1.social.microsoft.com/Forums/resources/images/trans.gif?cver=2.13.0068.3)Edit
  • !\[\](http://i1.social.microsoft.com/Forums/resources/images/trans.gif?cver=2.13.0068.3)Delete
• Saturday, April 24, 2010 6:54 AMSirValak

!\[\](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."""""

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!

I had so many explorer processes in Task Manager that it took me nearly 5 minutes to 'End Process' them all. I am using DownThemAll (DTA) add-in in Firefox as well as the Firefox downloader (default) - each time I 'Open Directory' in DTA or 'Open Containing Directory' in the Download window of Firefox, a new 'explorer' process starts. Is it really a bug in the add-in or Firefox or in the Torrent clients ? OR is it just Windows 7 not closing the process when the Explorer window is closed with the X? ......          ME THINKS its's the latter - another hole opened up in Windows - 'cos these non-Microsoft programs can't all be "bugging out" in different ways !

Update: I've just used the Run command (Windows key + R)  to run explorer while Task Manager was already running. A second explorer session started. I then closed the explorer window but the new explorer process stayed running. ME DEFO THINKS this is a major bug .... PS I want my explorers to run separately but I expect them to stop running when I close the window (with the X) ... is that too much to ask ?  (so please don't suggest the registry 'hack' !)

Note: I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit on an AMD Phenom(tm) X4 955 CPU, Asus motherboard with 8GB of memory