I have a problem with Vista - Windows Explorer keeps crashin
Posted by admin on Jan 17th, 2007
I have a problem with Vista, Windows Explorer regularly keeps crashing.Each time it says it will look for a 'fix' online, then doesn't even advise me that one isn't available. Windows Explorer crashes every 15 minutes, i doubt whether Microsoft will release a fix that quickly, maybe it should be intelligent enough to 'not' check online when it is the 30th time it has crashed in a matter of hours.I have a freshly installed version of Vista, with only a few apps loaded (seamonkey, real player, zip genius, office 2007). This problem however; has been with me since my first use and at first I thought it was due to the OS downloading updates / not having been rebooted.When I am using Windows Explorer I get maybe 2 minutes of use before it crashes.There is absolutely no help in the Microsoft Vista Knowledge base.I have a brand new high spec dell laptop, more than powerful enough to run vista. I am running vista under 'classic mode' so do not make use of the graphically intensive Aero functionality. Vista is the only OS on the laptop (and I have reinstalled Vista to try to fix, to no avail). From my point of view there is NO reason why Vista should be crashing so regularly, other than bugs in the OS.From what I can see a lot of people are experiencing this problem with Windows Explorer (there are a whole heap of requests for help online).The WOW hasn't started now. More like the WHY was this OS released without due Quality Assurance. Where is the support functionality? Where is the help from Windows Engineers? We are only in the first couple of weeks of release and problems that were around during RC1 are still hanging around in the consumer release?Can somebody from Microsoft please treat this complaint as a matter of urgency, here is a link to somebody else with the same problem.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070221012940AAuwBmiIt should be noted in the above example that by Microsoft not having a solution to this problem, other people are suggesting downloading 'anti' spyware (probably loaded with spyware) to a 'very' insecure newborn OS.I STRONGLY RECOMMEND AVOIDING UPGRADING TO VISTA UNTIL MICROSOFT HAVE HAD OPPORTUNITY TO PROPERLY TEST THIS OS (Unfortunately it looks like I am now an unpaid tester for Microsoft, along with everybody else who has bought a new computer recently)I have to add that I have not seen any advantage of having Vista over Xp so far. This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Webbased Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane.windowshelp.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/enus/default.mspx?mid=68ae40e7559b4cd09e3c88f16f3f0136&dg=microsoft.public.windows.vista.performance_maintenance
Jan 22nd, 2007 at 08:22 pm
If I had a "brand new high spec dell laptop" that was crashing every 15 minutes or less, I doubt I would be blaming the operating system. Maxwell Bluemeanie "Michael"
Jan 28th, 2007 at 09:18 am
The laptop is not crashing, the laptop works fine.Vista in general, works fine.The crashes only occur when Windows Explorer is open. And then the error is localised to Windows Explorer. Just what do you suggest is causing the crash from a hardware perspective?If it was a hardware problem then Dell would have had complaints from others who have the same model laptop running XP or Linux.Please do not leave pointless messages."Max" wrote:
Jan 29th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
There are lots and lots of similar reports, including mine. My taskbar started flashing and became useless after about an hour or so of operation, and usually upon coming back from the screen saver. I thought my Dell 610 may be too slow, so I bought a Dell 620 with an upgraded graphics card. It still happens. But, I've discovered that it does NOT happen when the laptop is undocked. That lead me to think it was the flat screen, so I replaced that also, and got the latest drivers. It still happens. So far I've not seen any solution posted to this huge problem."Michael" wrote:
Feb 2nd, 2007 at 11:09 am
I do have the same problem. Another employee that works with me has Business version of Vista and its more stable than my Ultimate version. I must of got the Ultimate package (included all the extra bugs). But i have not heard one solution to a fix or any help to figuring out a time line of a fix. Microsoft needs to step in and give a direct answer. Cole"Michael" wrote:
Feb 6th, 2007 at 10:42 am
I too have recently bought a toshiba laptop with vista installed. My system has crashed 3 times, rebooted in safe mode, had 390 error messages, some critical, some warnings...but with no solutions available. I am quite frustrated because this system was a big investment for me."Michael" wrote:
Feb 9th, 2007 at 04:20 pm
I've run Vista Ultimate with Office 2007 on Dell D620's and D820's. No problems. On which Dell model are you running Vista? Have you tested RAM? Chkdsk'd HD's?I've been running Vista for about a year now... through Beta and RC's and now RTM and I've never experienced what you describe. Many Vista issues can be traced back to crappy device drivers. HW issues will impact the OS, too. If part of explorer.exe is sitting on a bad sector on your hd, well...Sorry, but I don't think your problem is OS related. My SWAG would be either device driver, or hw issue.Lang"Michael"
Feb 12th, 2007 at 06:21 am
On Mar 13, 2:19 am, "Lang Murphy" wrote: I have the same problem, reinstalled Vista Business 3 times. No hardware problmes, this machine ran XP for a year smooth as silk. This is definitely a Vista bug, I also have unforgivable amounts of errors and warnings within the event viewer. I am not formatting again since it does no good. I am going to wait for some more updates and hopefully MS is paying attention to complaints.
Feb 14th, 2007 at 02:20 am
Michael ZipGenius is the culprit to your Vista crash. I was experiencing the same problem, took a little while to put it together. I noticed when ever I moused over zip files, or when there was zip file in a folder I was working in Vista would crash. Apparently ZipGenius 7 is in early alpha stages and will address Vista issues. Until then, it's XP Pro for me. UnluckyMike UnluckyMike's Profile: forums.techarena.in/member.php?userid=23987 View this thread: forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=694416forums.techarena.in
Feb 15th, 2007 at 11:54 am
UnluckyMike ha scritto: ZipGenius 6.0.3.1130 seems to be working fine under Vista x32, while in Vista x64 it has no shell context menu (public ad: I am searching for experienced developers that could send to me some sample code for 64 bit shell extensions). Yes, ZG 7 is in early alpha stage but it is growing very fast: (I hope) it will address all Vista issues and it will be faster, easier on resources and more modular than today's ZG 6.Greetings.Matteo Riso zipgenius.it
Feb 17th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Michael and others,I'm having the same problem, I also figured out that explorer chrashes as soon as it sees a zipgenius file (where it worked great on XP) so I tried other zip programs after uninstalling zipgenius: winzip (o, yeah, thise reminders to buy it, #@%!!) does not result in crashes but tells me that I do NOT have the rights to open my zipfiles..??! As does 7zip.... I uninstalled them all again, made sure I had the newest version of zipgenius and was back where I started: crashes of explorer! Working around explorer, just opening zipgenius and scrolling through there, works for some zip files but for others the program just disapears, which is about the same as an explorer crash (don't tell me that zipgenius uses explorer to find other zip files Max might come up with such a brilliant remark the fact is that it doesn't work and that is a pest!) My PC is not a Dell but a Compaq SR 2089NL, fully Vista compatible (what would that mean?), bought with XP and later updated when the promised Vista arrived by mail, next Office 2007 and CorelDraw X3 are my main programs. So as far I can see, I invested in lots of new stuff yet I am ever so dissatisfied with the results... I would only encourage people I dislike to make the switch to Vista.... Know what I'm saying? I sincerely hope that there is someone still listening and that this bug may be fixable."ZipGenius" wrote:
Feb 23rd, 2007 at 05:08 pm
Fr@nk wrote: I don't have this problem with WinZip. Maybe ZipGenius has done something strange with the files. Did you need to run it as Administrator that might explain the different permissions? Maybe try creating a few new zip files with WinZip and see if it can open them. I'm using Vista with almost no problems. I certainly wouldn't advise people to upgrade just for the sake of there's no point unless there's some features they really want / need. The only reason I have Vista is that I needed a new computer anyway. Did you notice that the post you replied to is from one of the ZipGenius developers, who would be precisely one of the people in a position to fix the issue? He said "ZG 7 is in early alpha stage... (I hope) it will address all Vista issues...". So you the problem will probably be fixed in that version. The fact it is in "early alpha stage" means that it probably currently contains a lot of bugs at the moment, which need fixing before it can be released even as a beta version.For info:Alpha testing is testing of very early releases. A lot of possibly severe problems are expected. This usually only involves developers / testers.Beta testing is when the software should be mostly usable (no frequent crashes etc), but may still be buggy. This tends to be released to the public (possibly only to those who specifically sign up for beta versions) so that it can be tested in reallife use, and with a wider variety of other software on the system, which is not always possible with alpha testing.There may then be several "release candidates" (RCs) for further testing before the final release.
Feb 27th, 2007 at 04:31 am
Thanks Mark, I did indeed notice that the post I replied to is from one of the ZipGenius developers, in hope so that they read it as well. The version of zipgenius I use is not the alpha one but the ZipGenius 6.0.3.1130 version mentioned by Matteo Riso and prooving him wrong....... I constantly work in administrator mode, having got too tired of all hassle as a low priveledged user, being the sole person to work on this desktop. Maybe zipgenius did do something peculiar with the files which is not compatible with winzip. Maybe they should work on that as well. Maybe Matteo could help me (us) out with that one.... Thanks Fr@nk"Mark Bourne" wrote:
Mar 2nd, 2007 at 12:18 am
Fr@nk ha scritto: OK, I found the problem. The zgtips.dll (a shell extension) is the cause of Windows Explorer crashes. I am releasing a modedd setup file for ZG 6.0.3.1130 which doesn't register that shell extension if the target OS is Vista. For everybody: click Start and type "CMD" in the Search field in the Start Menu, then press SHIFT+ENTER to run a shell window in administrator mode. Then type the following command:regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\ZipGenius 6\zgtips.dll" /UThis command will unregister the shell extension and Windows Explorer should not crash anymore.I am already seeking for a solution that makes that shell extension working.Matteo Riso zipgenius.it
Mar 7th, 2007 at 06:14 pm
Thank you Matteo, I did what you said and indeed no chrash followed. BUT: a new window tells me: faillure in compressed files. Cannot open the file. access to the compressed map c:\users\compaq_administrator\Documents\(etc.) is refused. That still isn't what we expect from it, is it? Thank goodness for backups, I'm not worried yet, it's just time consuming...Fr@nk"ZipGenius" wrote:
Mar 10th, 2007 at 03:09 pm
Michael,I originally installed Zip Genius 6 Suite Edition and experienced the crashing you described. I uninstalled it and ran CCleaner and then rebooted and installed Zip Genius 6 Standard Edition. When Zip Genius was installing and asked if I wanted all Zip files to be associated with Zip Genius, I chose to NOT have this. I also used ShellExView and disabled several of the shell extensions.After I did that, I have had no problems with Exporer crashing.Good luck, edsager"Michael" wrote:
Mar 11th, 2007 at 01:01 pm
To Matteo: a new morning with new possibilities..... Restarting my PC today (I didn't reboot after following your suggestion yesterday) I found out that explorer still crashes over the zip files..... And that some of the zip files can be opened if working through the ZipGenius menu (instead of getting there through explorer). But at (at least) one zipped folder, it crashes as well.... Fr@nk"edsager" wrote:
Mar 12th, 2007 at 06:01 am
On 10 Mag, 00:20, Fr@nk wrote: The shell extension fails when you hover the mouse point on a damaged zip file, so here is why you had to unregister that DLL. If you have already unregistered the zgtips.dll, DELETE IT after a reboot (no problem will occur, even if that file is no more available). I tested that shell extension with a good zip archive and Explorer window crashed as always, so there is something in the code that needs a review.
Mar 13th, 2007 at 06:04 pm
On 10 Mag, 12:20, ZipGenius wrote: Ok, I found a bug that pops up only under Vista x32. I am rebuilding the zgtips.dll from scratch and I will release a patch.
Mar 15th, 2007 at 06:46 am
ZipGenius ha scritto: Ok, I have released the updated version of ZipGenius (v. 6.0.3.1140). You can get the new release and the update pack at downloads.zipgenius.itGreetings.Matteo Riso zipgenius.it