# Windows Explorer crashes over and over again - what the hell? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-crashes-over-and-over-again-what-the-hell/382862 "2006-12-04T20:41:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-crashes-over-and-over-again-what-the-hell/382862/1 "2006-12-04T20:41:47Z")
Lately I’ve been having a problem with Explorer crashing. It just crashes, out of the blue, runs for 15 seconds or so, and then crashes again. It keeps happening over and over and over again and I have no idea what’s causing it. It’s the most frustrating thing you could imagine. What can I do? ---
**Author:** ![rocksolid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@rocksolid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocksolid)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-crashes-over-and-over-again-what-the-hell/382862/2 "2006-12-04T20:52:58Z")
Download firefox? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-crashes-over-and-over-again-what-the-hell/382862/3 "2006-12-04T20:53:13Z")
You can start with the tips on [this page](http://www.helpwithwindows.com/techfiles/explorer-crashes.html). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-crashes-over-and-over-again-what-the-hell/382862/4 "2006-12-04T20:59:21Z")
I don’t use IE any more, but My first suspicion would be a damaged plugin or browser helper object or some such; try opening up the Internet Options dialog (if IE won’t stay open long enough to get to this, go to the control panel and lauch it from there); then I think you click the Programs tab and Advanced (something like that - I’m not using Windows here, so I can’t check) - you should be able to enable or disable the plugins, browser extensions and BHOs etc - disable them all, then fire up IE - if it works, enable them one at a time until it falls over, then reinstall the offending component. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-crashes-over-and-over-again-what-the-hell/382862/5 "2006-12-04T21:02:04Z")
Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-crashes-over-and-over-again-what-the-hell/382862/6 "2006-12-04T21:06:20Z")
Good point **Myglaren**. If it’s Windows Explorer that keeps going wrong, running sfc /scannow from the command line might help - you may need a proper Windows installation CD to be able to complete this action though. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-crashes-over-and-over-again-what-the-hell/382862/7 "2006-12-04T21:37:23Z")
I’m taking about Windows Explorer here. Fuck Internet Explorer, I only use Firefox. With that said, any other advice? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-crashes-over-and-over-again-what-the-hell/382862/8 "2006-12-04T21:48:41Z")
Explorer.exe is quite an important program in Windows - it does more than just letting you browse files - I think it is also largely responsible for the operation of the Desktop too. If it’s damaged, that could potentially be quite serious. Run a full disk check - open ‘My Computer’, right-click your main hard drive and select ‘properties’, then ‘tools’ and ‘error checking’ - there should be two unchecked option checkboxes (can’t remember their labels) - select the first one, but don’t bother with the second. The computer will say it needs to schedule the disk check for the next system restart - agree to this, then restart the computer and let it run the check (may take a long time - up to an hour on some machines). ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-crashes-over-and-over-again-what-the-hell/382862/9 "2006-12-04T21:52:29Z")
The page I linked to is for advice on Windows Explorer (not IE, unlike the others, I assumed you meant what you actually wrote ;)) crashing repeatedly and unexpectedly. If **Mangetout** ’s advice doesn’t help, maybe something on that page will. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-explorer-crashes-over-and-over-again-what-the-hell/382862/10 "2006-12-05T16:58:01Z")
Have you tried a system restore to a point before the problem started? I would suspect corrupt system files or a problem with RAM.