Very strange Windows Explorer problem...

[ksherman]

Everytime I open a folder in Windows Explorer that contains and video files, Explorer crashes... not sure what the problem is. MS said it was a virus, but I have done multiple searches, and nothing. even used their malicous software remover tool, which found nothing also...

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Funny, did you post this question somewhere else in this forum? A couple of other people have had the same issue just the past few days. If the video files are Divx then I have the fix for you. This is a known issue with Divx files and SP2. I ran into it myself when SP2 first came out:


Explorer hangs with Watson crash when opening folder with many AVI files

There appears to be a problem with Windows XP SP2 affecting most ppl and its stability when selecting AVI files done in divx or xvid format (MPEG's are fine)

Opening a folder containing a large number of AVI file can open quite slowly because the OS has to open each AVI file and extract info from AVIs. If you have a large collection, you can speedup XP's folder access to blocking it from automatically extracting this info.

Rename the key by placing a minus in front of the keyname to enhance file system speed when working with AVIs. You will need to open "regedit" . Start - Run - regedit.

find and modify :

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ CLSID\ {87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}

to

-{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}.

If it causes problems, just remove the minus again.

----------------------------------------------------------

ALTERNATE FIX:

This happens when the files have been encoded with the DivX codec which
came out after XP. DivX now have a new version of it that does not
generate the 'bad' information that crashes explorer when it goes
looking into the files when you open a folder, to look for the extra
info about Properties - like resolution, frame rate, etc. But old files
will probably still do so (and the explorer in SP2 is more badly
affected than before)

It may be best to do without the extra property info - Start - run -
regedit.exe, open to

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SystemFileAssociations\.avi\shellex\PropertyHandler

highlight that and delete it

 

[ksherman]

Thanks!

no i havent posted this before, but it has been a problem for a while, and i just deal with it... TIME TO TAKE A STAND!!! lol... I tried the first one and will see how it goes...

EDIT: First one didnt work, though now instead of telling me there wa a problem, it just closes Explorer right away...

EDIT redux: Second method didn't fix it either... damn MS...

 

[ksherman]

Microsoft help says ive got this:

TrojanDownloader:Win32/Purstiu.A

but it hasnt come up in any scan previosly

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: ksherman
Everytime I open a folder in Windows Explorer that contains and video files, Explorer crashes... not sure what the problem is. MS said it was a virus, but I have done multiple searches, and nothing. even used their malicous software remover tool, which found nothing also...

If you remove all of your DIVX and other CODEC add-ins, including any "packs", does that fix the problem?

Does this happen in safe mode too?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

Use System Restore to go back before the first registry change. You shouldn't make both changes - one or the other. The 2nd one usually works for me. I'm not 100% sure you have the same problem though, but if they're all Divx files it sounds like it.

TrojanDownloaders are spyware. Virus scan won't effectively eliminate it. Please refer to my detailed spyware removal instructions here: http://theflyingpenguin.com/spyware-removal.shtml