Whenever I use the open/save dialog, the application freezes and I have to terminate it

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

From the issue description, you are facing an issue with Windows 7.

I appreciate if you could answer a few questions.

1. What is the model of our computer?
2. Did you make any changes on your system prior to this issue?
3. What is the configuration of your computer?
4. Does this issue occur only on certain programs you have mentioned or is there any other program that freezes?

This issue might occur due to third party applications or anti-virus.

I suggest you to follow the methods below and check if it helps:

Method1: How to perform clean boot.

Clean boot is performed to start Windows by using a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. This helps eliminate software conflicts that occur when you install a program or an update or when you run a program in Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, or Windows Vista. You may also troubleshoot or determine what conflict is causing the problem by performing a clean boot.

Follow the Microsoft article below to place the system in clean boot.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Note- After you have finished troubleshooting, follow the step from the link to reset the computer to start normally.

Method2: How to perform safe mode on Windows 7.

Safe mode is a troubleshooting option for Windows that starts your computer in a limited state. Only the basic files and drivers necessary to run Windows are started.

Please follow this Microsoft article below to place the system in safe mode.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/start-computer-safe-mode#start-computer-safe-mode=windows-7

Once you placed the system in safe mode, please run virus scan, just to make sure that your computer is not affected by virus.

Let us know the status of the issue.

Yes, this is an issue with Windows 7.

To answer your questions:

1. What is the model of our computer?

What do you mean? You need to know if it's a laptop/desktop or my motherboard model? My comp is a desktop.

2. Did you make any changes on your system prior to this issue?

As far as I know, this problem has been present since the upgrade to 7.

3. What is the configuration of your computer?

Can you be more specific?

4. Does this issue occur only on certain programs you have mentioned or is there any other program that freezes?

I believe it happens with every program that makes use of Explorer's Open/Save dialog. But my video editor and internet browser are the ones I use most frequently which is why I run into this problem there the most. It did happen at least once with other programs too.

Thanks for the suggestion to do clean boot or safe mode but keep in mind that I cannot reproduce this freeze bug. It seems to happen on random. And without all the drivers and everything running in clean boot or safe mode, I probably won't be able to use my video editing software or firefox to test the bug. I couldnt browse the net with Firefox without a network connection in a minimalist boot and I couldnt load, save or edit videos without crucial services and background renderers that the software depends on.

I could of course try other programs that I rarely use but the open/save dialog not freezing would not be proof of anything until I kept doing it for an hour under various circumstances. And there's simply no program that I use the open/save dialog often except with my video software and Firefox.

Is there no way to troubleshoot my frozen open/save dialog right here on a normal boot?

Hi,

Thank you for replying.

I need to know your computer model number and your system basic configuration.

Clean boot just disable all startup programs while loading Windows, you can still open any application that you use and it will work properly.

Please follow the step below to check computer model and system basic configuration.

When you are upgrading hardware, such as your random access memory (RAM) or a hard drive in your computer, you will need to know the make, model and current RAM of your system. Although many of today's computer systems are similar in nature, they vary in some of the technical specifications needed to perform an upgrade correctly. Windows makes it extremely easy to view this information in its system summary interface. It takes a few moments to view this information.

1. Press your "Windows" button and your "R" button at the same time on your keyboard. The Run utility will appear.
2. Type "msinfo32.exe" in the field and press OK or the "Enter" key on your keyboard.
3. Click "System Summary" in the left column.
4. View the information corresponding to "System Manufacturer," "System Model" and "Total Physical Memory" in the main window.

As you have upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7, I would like to confirm whether you have performed Windows upgrade assistances tool to check whether your PC hardware to see if it meets the system requirement to install Windows 7, including features of the processor such as CPU speed, PAE, NX, and SSE2, as well as RAM size and hard drive capacity.

You can also check this Microsoft article below which will let you know about the reasons for Windows 7 hangs or freezes.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2681286

Let us know the status of the issue.

"Windows makes it extremely easy" hahahaha. I ran MSinfo32 and this is what I see:

System Manufacturer: System manufacturer

System Model: System Product Name

Total physical memory: 3.47 GB

The article you posted talks about the OS itself hanging. This is not the problem I'm facing.

I will try clean boot soon.

Hi,

Thank you for your detailed response.

Please proceed with the clean boot and let us know if the issue persists. We will glad to assist you further.

Thank you.