# [SOLVED] Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer



## Donya222 (Jul 10, 2008)

Hello,

I recently installed some windows updates on July 9th/10th (KB890830 Malacious Software Removal Tool & KB955020 update) and also installed a new game (GRID), and have since had a funny issue...

When I right click on any of my "Recent Items" in my start menu (to say clear them from the list) Vista loads for a few seconds, then i get the message: "Windows Explorer has stopped working...looking for a solution" and then it says: "Windows Explorer is restarting". From there everything loads back up as if my comp just booted up. Nothing else in my start menu causes this if I right click or otherwise do anything else.

I have two hard drives, and my game i installed is on my second HD which is dedicated to just house games. My primary C drive is just for core files and things like that, so I really don't know if the game caused it, though I mentioned it because in reading many other problems similar it is what you recently install that can cause this error.

Is there any fix for this that someone might know? If you need my DirectXDiag, let me know, but I don't think it is necessary at this time...

Thanks for any help in advance,

Andrew


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## Donya222 (Jul 10, 2008)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

It seems the "Right-Click" error also occurs when I right click on files in my hard drives...usually applications it seems. Texts/Docs don't cause the Explorer crash. It seems to be a shell extension crash, but I'm not sure what is causing this.

I have ESET NOD32 antivirus installed, but again, this never happened before last night prior to the two windows updates and the new game install.


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## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

Hello Andrew 

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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## Donya222 (Jul 10, 2008)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

Dunedin-
Thanks so much...it worked on the first try. I disabled something called "CmdLineContextMenu Class", which was a SecuROM context menu for Explorer. It is made by Sony DADC Austria AG. I don't know why, but this context menu was causing all the problems; the program worked perfectly though.

Thanks so much for your help, and I hope others can benefit from this thread!

Andrew


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## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

You are very welcome Andrew 

I`m happy to have been able to help you :smile:

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## ThatLukeGuy (Jul 16, 2008)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

Just FYI, I had the *exact* same problem. I was really getting to the end of my rope. Suspected hardware failure, checked with MemTest and SeaTools but everything was ok. Finaly troubleshooted the error down to being able to consistenly replicate it by using "Send To" menu = crash followed by Dr.Watson also crashing. Through google I found and used the ShellExView (great little program) and discovered the same CmdLineContextMenu Class causing a problem (Curse you SecuROM!). Googling that shows me that I'm not alone, as I found and registered on this forum.

My question is this: how many people are being affected by this? And just what the heck is it and how did it get onto my system? Never had this problem before and right before it started to happen I had not installed any major software. The only events right before failures started were:

Microsoft Malicious Removal Tool update etc.

and

Installed old-school (open source version) Ur-Quan Masters game.


Coincidence? Or could one of those have caused the failure in this SecuROM module?


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## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

Hello ThatLukeGuy :smile:

I don`t really know anything about it, but it looks like quite a few people have trouble with it.

As far as I can find out it is added by SecuRom, a copy-protection program used in many computer games

I see that Andrew just installed a new game!

.


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## ThatLukeGuy (Jul 16, 2008)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

I just realised that I had recently patched my game Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath with their latest (and only) patch right before this started to happen. I think that game is protected by SecuROM. Maybe the latest SecuROM update has a bug? I could also see the SecuROM software stealthily updating itself through the internet in the background of windows without telling the user :/


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## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

Aha!! Problem solved then :grin:

It seems to be installing/patching games which produces this error.

We must keep that in mind 

Check for SecuROM in msconfig

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## ThatLukeGuy (Jul 16, 2008)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

Seems we hit the nail on the head!

This thread in the EA.com forums for the CNC3:KW game confirms the issue and also offers a link for some kind of hotfix from SecuROM (will try hotfix tonight to see if issue clears up). The thing is though, Donya222 mentioned a different game at the beginning of the thread. It's possible that this issue is spread across multiple games/applications using the latest SecuROM update.


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## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*



> It's possible that this issue is spread across multiple games/applications using the latest SecuROM update.


Yes I think it will apply to many games I`m afraid 

.


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## xMETHUSELAHx (Jul 24, 2008)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

here is the link so you don't have to hunt for it

http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=19996

you guys are awesome I am a Kane's Wrath player and had no idea that was what was causing the problem. The fix is easy and it works immediately not even a reboot required.

good job!


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## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

Hello xMETHUSELAHx 

I`m so glad you found help here for your problem 

.


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## kidsysco (Aug 6, 2008)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

Exact same problem, exact same solution worked for me!

Very impressive work you are all doing here!

This is likely to be a huge problem for many windows vista users! This is a good one for the search engines!

Every time I right clicked on a shortcut on the desktop explorer would crash. Explorer would crash when I right-clicked on a program shortcut in the start menu as well. It was a pretty serious problem that had me very worried, I had no other choice but to try what I read about in this thread.

This also really makes me wonder a bit more about, "CmdLineContextMenu Class". There used to be a really excellent shell extension that allowed the user to right click on any folder and start up a "Command Line" from the "Context Menu". It first shipped back with the Win 95 Power Toys and I have heard that it progressed over the years. Perhaps this is a descendant.


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## Dunedin (Jul 19, 2007)

*Re: Right Click on Recent Items (Start Menu) Crashes Win. Explorer*

Hello kidsysco 

Thank you for posting that you found help here.

Also thanks for the compliments about the forum.
We try our best to help :smile:

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