explorer.exe

superstar_2

I only use firefox, but explorer.exe shows up on my windows task manager taking up 10000 KB, any ideas ?

tomstickland

That's windows explorer, not internet explorer.
Internet explorer is iexplore.exe

Dough_Monster

Explorer.exe is the user shell, which we see as the familiar taskbar, desktop, and so on. If you were to close this, you would not be able to see any icons on your desktop or access your taskbar. You would only be able to open and close programs by using the Task Manager (accessed by Ctrl + Alt + Del).

Although this process is not essential for your PC to run, it allows you to do convenient tasks such as flicking between programs on your taskbar and accessing the Start menu.

Hope that helps.

C_Ronaldo

If you close explorer by mistake like i did just restart your pc,

Dough_Monster

You can re-open explorer.exe by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del, clicking File > New Task > Type "explorer.exe" > Click OK.

superstar_2

cheers guys