Windows 7 Multiple Explorer.exe problem

[imported_the_laughing_man]

Hi there.

I have been looking online for a solution to a problem I have but found nothing helpful.

I have found by opening different or multiple Explorer windows to view multiple folders or move files around 75% of the time if I go to task manager after closing the windows I am showing multiple instances of explorer.exe running between 300-8000 K so I have to manually close each one leaving the main one open so I don't close the main explorer down.

Is there any way anyone here knows I can fix this problem as it runs a lot of RAM down and having searched loads of places online I can't find a solution that doesn't involve re-installing my OS.

Thanks!

 

[BudEWiser]

The first step in identifying the issue would be to go to the event viewer and look for anything involving explorer.exe.
The default behavior for vista/7 is to open multiple instances of explorer, so that if something hangs the process, the rest of the system will remain stable. Kinda like IE8, each tab is a process all of its own.

There is a LOT that can go on in finding why a process is hanging and not terminating, especially explorer.exe

What happens if you close the window and wait, say 5 minutes? If the process hangs around that long after being terminated, some digging will be in order, but if it only hangs around for 45 seconds, it is just killing off all it's child threads before closing the main process (to avoid memory allocation errors, etc.).
Things that have been known to do this are add ons (nero scout comes to mind), driver issues, rootkits, viri, etc.
You can almost always fix these issues with out a wipe and install, but sometimes the process of finding the issue is so time consuming, that a re-install is much easier.

 

[imported_the_laughing_man]

I have had the extra processes on left it a couple hours and they are still there.

I do not have any Nero products and only really use web design & photo editing software, IE2 (Maxthon), Firefox, iTunes, VLC, Realplayer, Bit Torrent, MS Office and Skype.

I would like to avoid a reinstall as It takes almost a day to reinstall all my programs and other OS as each time it wipes the partitions on my SDD.

 

[Lokitorrent]

I have had the extra processes on left it a couple hours and they are still there.

I do not have any Nero products and only really use web design & photo editing software, IE2 (Maxthon), Firefox, iTunes, VLC, Realplayer, Bit Torrent, MS Office and Skype.

I would like to avoid a reinstall as It takes almost a day to reinstall all my programs and other OS as each time it wipes the partitions on my SDD.

Mmmm, ok, you should have always in 7 a process called explorer.exe, cause that's the windows enviroment, if you use the "windows explorer", then you will have the second explorer.exe running; but, judging by the size of allocated memory, 8k sometimes, and this is just a guess of course you need more researching and testing.... it could be a problem with the 7 aero which is sucking your resources like crazy.

¿Do you have more clues about it, or did you run a process testing program?.

 

[imported_the_laughing_man]

I know there should be one explorer.exe process when the computer is idle but last time I had 9 of them.

I will lose the aero and see if that helps if not is there any testing programs you reccomend?

 

[Lokitorrent]

I know there should be one explorer.exe process when the computer is idle but last time I had 9 of them.

I will lose the aero and see if that helps if not is there any testing programs you reccomend?

This one:
http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/

the idea is using that tester so you will know what is running in your OS in real time, after that info, you go process by process checking for your resources eater.
After the scan, please post the log info, off course avoiding any personal info...

 

[imported_the_laughing_man]

I think it was aero as after changing it and losing my dock and changing to rocketdock I don't get the problem anymore.:gayprance:

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Kazuma Ohara]

Aero can cause a few problems which is why I use Rainmeter to have all my fancy stuff and disabled aero.