# Right click on file windows explorer freezes



## Pete Diebenow (Jul 29, 2008)

When I right click on a file in Windows Explorer (Vista Ultimate) the hour glass appears and after a while the Explorer window turns grayish. If I minimize it I can continue to work, even activate another Windows Explorer window. But if I attempt to close the grayed window the screen turns blue (Not the "window of death", and there are no error messages) and my desk top is lost. I can three finger salute, raising the task manager which tells me nothing is running, and I have to restart or shut down!

I have a Toshiba Satellite A205, running VIsta Ultimate, 4 GB ram, etc., etc.

I tried to do a search on this Forum but had trouble and could do nothing, so I write this note.

Thanks for any help.


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## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

Hello Pete Diebenow 

I think this might be caused by a bad context menu handler. A context menu handler is a shell extension handler that adds commands to an existing context menu (Example: cut, copy, paste, print, Scan with Norton etc).

Download ShellExView and run it.

It will scan the registry for all the shell extensions. Once the scan is over and the list is displayed, you need to spot the context menu handlers. Sort the results using "Type", so that the context menu handlers are displayed together.

General rule here is to disable non-Microsoft context menu handlers *one-by-one* and verify if the problem is solved. If disabling one does not solve the problem, undo the disabled item and disable the next non-Microsoft handler. Do the same until the problem is solved and finally identify the culprit. Scroll right to see the Company Name column in ShellExView.

You can disable them ...they say "one at a time" and see what effect it has on the problem. You can do it a lot quicker by bisecting the list, disabling half of the entries in one fell swoop, rebooting and trying the right click. You just have to narrow it down. Then keep bisecting the list until it is just a few and do these one at a time. The problem is that you have to reboot between tries to get accurate testing of the results of your disabling. 

The latest version of ShellExView marks all the non-Microsoft extensions in Pink for easy identification. All other types of shell extensions that ShellExView utility cannot recognize are categorized as "System" type.

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## Pete Diebenow (Jul 29, 2008)

Thanks for the feed-back, Dunedin.

I just fixed the problem by removing a prograsm called Undelete 5 by Diskeeper which I insalled just before this problem first occured. Also discovered before I removed that program that there were other problems.

Now I'll probably check their homepage and see if they have a fix.

Again, Thanks for your quick reply!!

--pete diebenow


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## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

I`m glad you have managed to fix it :smile:

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## VP705 (Jul 24, 2008)

When you bought the laptop, Did you remove all the unnecessary programs already installed on there?

That might fix a lot of problems, actually, helped me with my HP tx1210 laptop. I uninstalled all the HP nonsense.


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## Pete Diebenow (Jul 29, 2008)

Been in conversation with Diskeeper Undelete 5 people. Great support!!!!!

Turns out that my Anti-virus program AVG Firewall needed to give permission to Undelete 5 to do it's thing. Once we did that all works well!!!

Thanks to all for your help.

BTW, AVG Firewall never asked for permission to run the Undelete 5 program as it does / did with all the others. Oh well. The problem is solved.


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## jake37 (Jun 5, 2009)

Dunedin said:


> Hello Pete Diebenow
> 
> I think this might be caused by a bad context menu handler. A context menu handler is a shell extension handler that adds commands to an existing context menu (Example: cut, copy, paste, print, Scan with Norton etc).
> 
> ...


Thanks for the help I had the same problem and ShellExView worked great, I didnt even have to reboot upon disableing or enabling the problem. My problem was the Shell context for this program (Ipswitch WS_FTP 12) FTP program from here http://www.ipswitchft.com/ This will also cause problems in Windows 7 also.

Thank you: Jake


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## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

Hello Jake 

Thanks for letting us know

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