# RESOLVED: My pictures folder freezes



## TinkTink (Aug 12, 2006)

Hello, 

When I open my pictures folder...It freezes my whole computer and I have to force quit it which doesn't respond for a long while. How can I resolve this issue. Maybe perhaps a way to get into the folder without freezing everything and delete some pictures that are no longer wanted/needed. Maybe that'll clear the freezing up. How do I go about that without the problem of the folder freezing/not responding?

Thank you!


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## Chevy (Jul 25, 2003)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

It may be that the thumbs.db (which caches thumbnail images for that folder) is corrupt.

Open a command prompt. This should start you off in the directory for your profile (c:\Documents and Settings\_username_).

Try the following (bold is what you type):

*cd My Doc** then press ENTER
*del thumbs.db /s* then press ENTER

If asked to confirm, answer Yes.

Once you do this, close the command prompt and open your pictures folder.


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## TinkTink (Aug 12, 2006)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

Ahh! Alas. Thank you ever so kindly chevy! :smile:


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## TinkTink (Aug 12, 2006)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

Another thing I wanna draw attention to after being able to actually access my pictures folder. There was a folder in there called Viewpoint. I hovered over it and it said "repository". I checked it out and it had 2 different pics. It was suspcious, so I deleted it. Then it pretty much went wierd again(freezing) and my computer wouldn't respond. 

Is this 'Viewpoint' component something bad? I hope it was nothing I needed. I never heard of it before and I surely never made a folder with sucha title.

Thanx!


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## Chevy (Jul 25, 2003)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

You may have "ViewPoint Media Player" installed ... not a big issue.

As to the folder issue:

Open My Computer

Change the View to Details

Go to Tool-Folder Options, click the View tab, then click Apply to All Folders

Now open your pictures folder -the view should be reset to "Details".

How many pics in the one folder?

It could also be a case of one corrupt pic causing the lock-up.


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## TinkTink (Aug 12, 2006)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

Well....In the My pictures folder...I have 45 separate sub folders included in it. It is all 668Bytes. I notice everytime I click something on the folder window or in around it except for the scroll bars and the 'sort by' options (name, size, type...etc.), it will freeze. Hmmm


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## TinkTink (Aug 12, 2006)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

I know you all are busy! You've got a great support team here with many people asking for help. But I just want to bring this to light again and ask if there are any other suggestions regarding this. If not, I'll take my Laptop somewhere to have them check it out. No problem =) 

Thank you


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## nickster_uk (Feb 7, 2005)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

Hi TinkTink,

do you have any .avi files in that folder or any of the subfolders?


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## TinkTink (Aug 12, 2006)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

Hello there nickster,


I do have .avi's in the subfolders. More than 5 at least scattered throughout the folders.


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## nickster_uk (Feb 7, 2005)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

Ok, Explorer may be having problems with one of those avi files. Please try the following:

- Click Start -> Run -> type:
regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll
- Click OK
- Reboot and post back any progress please.

The above command simply disables the avi preview in Explorer which is a common cause of Explorer crashes.


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## TinkTink (Aug 12, 2006)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

Ahh Unfortunately...The same results are shown. It freezes and I close the window using the red x and it takes away everything on my desktop including the taskbar then comes back after a few seconds.


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## nickster_uk (Feb 7, 2005)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

Does the same happen in Safe Mode?

Also, have you scanned those folders for any kinds of malware?


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## TinkTink (Aug 12, 2006)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

I have scanned that folder for malware with 3 different scanners. Adaware, spybot search & destroy, and Norton Antivirus. Nothing comes up. 

In safe mode...I can access the folder and I can actually click on the subfolders and see inside there. It is slow and freezes for a slight second...but works way better in safe mode. Seems like normal.


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## nickster_uk (Feb 7, 2005)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

When you're in Safe Mode, see if moving some of the contents to other folders helps at all. Is a little bit of trial and error so may take a little time to work out what filers are causing the problems...so it may be best to move files in batches.


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## TinkTink (Aug 12, 2006)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

Okay, So...I tried moving some folders out and such. One folder gave me a problem. (the picture taken on my other computer is the error message I received. Maybe this subfolder was the problem?


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## nickster_uk (Feb 7, 2005)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

Ok..there's a couple of possibilities here. You either have some seriously corrupt files or your hard drive is beginning to fail.

Please try the following:

- Click Start -> Run -> type:
cmd
- Click OK
- At the flashing cursor type:
chkdsk c: /f /r
- Hit Enter
- Press Y to confirm then enter
- Reboot and it should run chkdsk and attempt to repair any problems it may find.

Once it's done, try again...if it still doesn't work. I recommend backing up any vital data you have on the drive and then download the manafacturer's diagnostic tool to perform some deep tests on the drive to check for any serious issues.


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## TinkTink (Aug 12, 2006)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

Oh man. Thank you very much. While going through the check, I saw that it picked up on some of my picture folders/file names. They must've been corrupt like you said. There were more things with indexes deleted as well. 

I'm thankful for all your help and time! You really helped me out. 

Now back to Network Support.

Thanks again, nickster! :smile:


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## nickster_uk (Feb 7, 2005)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*

You're welcome, glad we could help :smile:


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## TwilitePrincess (Dec 24, 2007)

I have the same problem...it recently started for no obvious reason! However, NONE of the idea above worked for me...a disk check revealed nothing was wrong, and my picture folder doesn't have a thumbs.bd to be corrupt..any other ideas?


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## supertechteam (Dec 2, 2008)

The thumbs.db didn't do it for me... Here's another method:

1. Manually go to your user directory and the pictures folder (i.e. C:\Users\techie\Pictures )
2. right click on folder and go to properties
3. go to customize
4. change "what kind of folder do you want?" to ALL items instead of pictures and videos... 
5. test it out and see if this fixes your issue

In our scenario, it looks like there is a file/folder in the pictures directory that's causing the preview creation / windows exploader to collide and hang.

:wave:


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## coffemug (Feb 4, 2009)

*Re: My pictures folder freezes*



nickster_uk said:


> Ok, Explorer may be having problems with one of those avi files. Please try the following:
> 
> - Click Start -> Run -> type:
> regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll
> ...


The above worked for me. The freezing problem was sudden and persistent on an HP540N running XP Home with all updates. I do believe early signs where sluggish computer performance (caused by consumption of all CPU resources by EXPLORER.EXE). Any attempt to open a folder in MyPictures, whether directly or through an application, would freeze the computer - requiring an CTRL-ALT-DELETE to recover.

The above solved not only the freeze problem but the computer also is performing better. Don't know if the later is really part of all of the problem but that is my observation.

I registered at Tech Support just to relate the success of the fix. Thanks "nickster_uk" I'll be back.


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