Help with Windows Explorer problems

amc1

Hi, last week something happened and my Win98 computer would not start with an explorer.exe error. I managed to replace the current explorer.exe with a later, bigger version of explorer.exe and I was able to boot up.

The problems I have now are :-

1. When I open any folder, the files are not listed in the right-hand pane. if I then click View/List or View/Details the files show up.
2. The files in the recyle bin do not show though I think 'emptying' works.
3. The Find Files/Search facility only allows searching of the internet. Clicking on files/folders does nothing.
4. I prefer the 'Classic' windows explorer but clicking on this does not seem to do anything.
5. Shift+Right Click does not show Open With
6. If I click on the old version of explorer.exe (now explorer1.exe) it crashes.
7. The Save Target As facility in Internet Explorer no longer works
8. Save As in any application does not display existing folders

It would seem to have something to with permissions ????? or some customisation (that I don't want) which only works with the later version of explorer.exe ?????

Its all very annoying so any help would be much appreciated. Thanks,

leesmithg

amc1 wrote:

Hi, last week something happened and my Win98 computer would not start with an explorer.exe error. I managed to replace the current explorer.exe with a later, bigger version of explorer.exe and I was able to boot up.

The problems I have now are :-

1. When I open any folder, the files are not listed in the right-hand pane. if I then click View/List or View/Details the files show up.
2. The files in the recyle bin do not show though I think 'emptying' works.
3. The Find Files/Search facility only allows searching of the internet. Clicking on files/folders does nothing.
4. I prefer the 'Classic' windows explorer but clicking on this does not seem to do anything.
5. Shift+Right Click does not show Open With
6. If I click on the old version of explorer.exe (now explorer1.exe) it crashes.
7. The Save Target As facility in Internet Explorer no longer works
8. Save As in any application does not display existing folders

It would seem to have something to with permissions ????? or some customisation (that I don't want) which only works with the later version of explorer.exe ?????

Its all very annoying so any help would be much appreciated. Thanks,

Just reinstall windows from the desktop.

albertross_2

where did you get this version of explorer from?

if you have the wrong explorer, then you should be able to get the original one by usinf sfc and the original W98 .cab files (on CD, or HD)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/129605/

if that doesn't work, you may have 5 backups of the registry to restore to

startup hold down the f8 key at windows startup, go into dos command prompt mode, and type scanreg /restore

you should have 5 restore points to go back to, if any of those are dates before the problem started, try restoring the registry.

Also doing a https://www.windowsupdate.com might help (if it still works).

Are you malware free ? .. see sticky thread

amc1

Thanks for your reply.

I've ran ad-aware and remove the results and I've done the windows update. No avail.

If have retrieved the old version and it crashes when I double-click on it. It's a smaller file (170Mb v 220 Mb, I think).

Not totally sure where I got the current explorer.exe from. I think I had taken a copy of a previous windows directory and copied it from there.

I'll try the registry back-up restore.

Cheers.

amc1

Sorted it. I removed a folder which I didn't recognise (C:\WINDOWS\WEB which contained a lot of .HTT files) and the problems have gone away.