explorer.exe problems. Help please?

[FallenXxRaven]

My explorer.exe has been taking up around 90-100,000k memory lately. Ive scanned for viruses a few times and I took off nearly all my icons but it still takes up all this memory. A few days ago i went through every program I had and managed to remove around 30GB of crap I didn't use, but nothings fixing this. Anyone know whats wrong or how to find out?

[TC_Halogen]

Yikes, that is some serious computer usage. Maybe you have another program that is conflicting with explorer?

I'm not a computer expert, but one guess that I would have is if you are running DSL; Windows Firewall may be overly scanning HTTP traffic...but then again, it is managed by alg.exe--so I really have no idea. Maybe you should search google to troubleshoot problems similar to yours. I've actually been trying to find a way to stop my anti-virus module from eating a ton of CPU (I have ESET NOD 32, which uses ekrn.exe to block HTTP traffic, regardless if the module is disabled or not), and I can't seem to stop it from using insane amounts of CPU at random points. Closing the process makes it spike to 99 CPU and then drop back to 0 CPU, so it's probably a module issue on my end.

Oops, I side-tracked, haha. Well--the best thing I can tell you is just look around, you'll more than likely find something to fix your problem.

[FallenXxRaven]

Ive been looking around for a while but i haven't found much. I even asked my grandpa, who used to own his own computer corporation but he couldn't give me an answer or find anything either. That's why I was hoping one of you knew what to do, or maybe even had the same problem and fixed it somehow.

[Necamus]

Have you tried restarting explorer.exe?

[nuclearsamurai]

My explorer.exe is only using 5,232 K of RAM, and 20,040 K of VM.

Compared to me, your situation is rather odd.

Are you using XP or Vista?

By the way, ninja'd by Necamus. I was gonna suggest that.

[FallenXxRaven]

Ive restarted it sooo many times. Ive tried rebooting, and all that crap. Im running Windows XP on a Dell Dimension 8200 with 756-ish MB of RAM and around 50GB of free space. Not sure if thats all needed info but it cant hurt.

[nuclearsamurai]

More RAM than I have, and yet it's using a lot of it.

Did you install anything recently?

[Dark.Oni]

Explorer.exe is your operating system.. basically. If your computer isn't up to par with the operating system your using example being, your PC was originally XP, and without any hardware upgrades you jumped to Vista. For me, I did such and my explorer usually runs between 13,000 and 20,000MEM. I may not be correct, don't get me wrong.. I'm not computer genius. But, if you are running an old computer and running newer applications, and a newer operating system it may wear and tear your MEM/RAM. Also you may want to check your Windows/Temp folder along with run programs like CCleaner and stuff to make sure your registry isn't clogged with useless old stuff.


As you stated, restarted.. your Pc are you talking about reformatting? or.. just generally clicking the restart button?

[FallenXxRaven]

I installed Firefox yesterday but i just got rid of it because i couldnt stand it. And i run CClearner regularly, my registry is completely clean. the newest thing i have is World of Warcraft, but that didnt change anything at all. I just click the restart button.. IF theres something else i should be doing I'm willing to try it.

[leo172519]

well you could try out rocket dock. it will stay up while explorer.exe is shut down so you can use your programs freely. I use it, and it's working great...perhaps you could until you find an ultimate fix?

[sonic-fast-fingers]

As a last and final step you could always try reformatting. Even though it is about an hour of work who doesn't want a new computer (well pretty much a new one).

[Zageron]

Contrary to common belief explorer.exe is NOT your operating system. You're operating consists of the locked files that can't be edited/removed/renamed/etc... when you are in windows.

Explorer.exe is simply the GUI (or Graphic User Interface) that you generally see. explorer.exe makes it easier for you to move around in windows without having to know all the shortcuts or commands.

Only around 10 or so years ago there was no explorer.exe, You had to use DOS.

Enough of that.

I can suggest a few programs to help your problem, but I can't really help you directly unless I know what you were doing before it started acting up.

-CCleaner (I see you use it already)
-RegistryFix 7.0 (http://registryfix.com/)
(Run the scan and let us know what it comes up with. Understand that each registry program will come up with a different selection of errors)
-Malwarebytes' Antimalware (http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php) (A very good anti-virus, which I suggest you use)

A step to clear out explorer. (Read it all before you do it.)

Rightclick on the clock, click Task Manager, click the Processes tab, find explorer.exe, rightclick it, click end process TREE.

You will experience a blank screen. use the shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Del, and you'll find your way back to the Task manager.

Click new task, and type in 'exploer' no quotes.
It should clear it up. (Understand that most of your active programs will be shut down. So it is a good idea to turn them off before hand)


And no, this isn't bad for your computer.

[Dark.Oni]

Yeah, I just know your PC crashes when you exit your explorer, or usually does.. thus I had assumed it had something to do with your OS. Sorry, for misguiding information.

[Zageron]

Originally Posted by Dark.Oni

Yeah, I just know your PC crashes when you exit your explorer, or usually does.. thus I had assumed it had something to do with your OS. Sorry, for misguiding information.

Unfortunately, in your post, I see misguided information again. :P It's O.K.

Ending explorer doesn't crash you're computer. Ending specific svchost.exes will start a crash sequence which can, in fact, be cancelled.

There are specific cases of computers in very rough shape that will experience the Blue Screen of Death when ending certain services, but they have to be really out-of-date computers.

Edit:
Some people may believe it crashes their computers because they can't do anything after ending the process. If they had done a little bit of research they would have realized that a quick and easy shortcut (Ctrl + ATL + DEL) will bring their computer back to life. (Assuming they know to start explorer again.)

[Seinken]

blah blah blah blah

[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Explorer\Advanced
Modify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.
Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value] // Value Name: DisableThumbnailCache
Setting for Value Data: [0 = Disabled / 1 = Enabled]
Exit Registry and Reboot

This might not actually work but yeah, seems like a good idea to me!

[FallenXxRaven]

Zageron - Ive closed just explorer.exe before, but i hadn't thought of ending the process tree, ill try that now. And I think my virus protection is fine, I have Mcafee 2008 on my computer, fully paid for.

Seinken - In english, please? ^^;;

Also - It took me about 10 minutes to type just this because half of my keystrokes arent being read, and my iexplorer keeps unfocusg itself.. thats been happening for a while. And thanks to everyone whos been trying to help me ^__^

Part 4- The edit: So i was just browsing through the subby forum and my iexplorer just randomly closed. After that my explorer restarted itself, and closed everything but my AIM buddy list.
And while I'm here.. Sometimes when im playing a game like Warcraft III or PlaneScape: Torment, my computer will freeze and make this high pitched whine from the speakers.. I mean everything completely freezes, i cant even turn capls lock on/off on my keyboard. Any idea whats up with that?

Edit 2: My computer is going through hell i guess. I tried ending the process tree and restarting, but Im not sure if it did anythign because i had to restart after to update my virus protection, and i ended up with the blue screen of death.
"STOP:c000021a {Fatal System Error} The Windows Logon Process system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc0000005 (0x00000000 0x00000000)
The system has been shut down"

[Zageron]

Looks like ether a bad virus, a bad registry error, or a hoard of broken ActiveX.

I don't know how to help you really.
Download http://www.filehippo.com/download_hijackthis/tech/
and post your report on http://www.hijackthis.de/ or a hijackthis support forum.

The logs are a little too hard for me to read properly so I probably wouldn't be any help, but post it up here in a [code][/ code] box, and I'll have a look at it.

[Necamus]

Here's a brilliant idea. Stop asking a forum for a online dancing simulation about your tech problems. If you blindly follow some of the idiots on this forum, you're going to make your computer worse.

Find a tech forum. There are hundreds of free ones.

[Nightfirecat]

Maybe some of your hardware is failing? Usually it's not a software problem when it reports memory locations.

[Zageron]

Originally Posted by Necamus

Here's a brilliant idea. Stop asking a forum for a online dancing simulation about your tech problems. If you blindly follow some of the idiots on this forum, you're going to make your computer worse.

Find a tech forum. There are hundreds of free ones.

Because idiots would bother posting in a thread they didn't understand.

Oh right, this forum is like that. -_-;