Recently purchased a Toshiba L305 laptop (AMD processor, version unknown) with Windows 7 Home Premium installed. Setup on my home wireless network and installation of applications has been virtually trouble free so far. However, I have been unable to set up application defaults. Here's the path: With Administrator User selected, select "Control Panel", then select "Default Programs". Select "Associate a file type or protocol with a program". This series of steps opens a window containing the title "Associate a file type or protocol with a program" and the instruction "Click on an extension to view the program that currently opens it by default. To change the default program, click Change program." There is also a progress bar open at the bottom of the window which contains the word "Loading" and a moving status indicator. No file extensions or program names are displayed. After several seconds another window with the title "Windows Explorer" appears overlaying the first window with the following error message: "Windows Explorer has stopped working. Windows is checking for a solution to the problem..." A progress bar with a moving indicator and a Cancel button are also present. If no action is taken, the window then displays the following message after a few seconds: "Windows Explorer is restarting..."; the same moving progress bar and Cancel buttons continue to be displayed. Both windows then close and the fully poplulated desktop is displayed. If I take the action to select either or both Cancel buttons the windows close with the same result as if no action had been taken.

HiDo you have any type of third party file browser or Windows Explorer replacement software installed?Perform a Clean Boot and then try to recreate the problem.If the behavior is still present, Create a new user account. Log on with the new account and try to recreate the behavior.If neither one of these procedures fix the problem, perform the following.Go to Start / All Programs / Accessories. Right click the Command Prompt item and select the Run As Administrator option. Type the following command.SFC /SCANNOWPress ENTER.This will scan and repair any corrupt system files.After the scan is finished, try to recreate the behavior.Let us know the results.Thank You for using Windows 7 Ronnie Vernon MVP

Hi, Ronnie's suggestions are worth to perform. Please take your time to test the issue and post the result. If the issue still persists, you can also try the following steps. 1. Use ShellExView tool to disable some third party item. The following link has some info and a download to ShellExView which you can use to selectively disable third party context menu handlers to find out a problematic one: ShellExView 2. Run antivirus program and perform a full scanning. Thanks, Novak