Been using Windows 7 Premium Home since release.Today I went into the Control Panel to check User Account Profile, after a couple of Control Panel Home clicks the message "Windows Exploer has stopped responding" appeared, Windows checks for reason and then restarts Windows Explorer. After some testing I found the following prob.!. Click on Start - Click on Control Panel - Click on any heading e.g. Ease of Access. Click back to Control Panel Home, click again on Ease of Access, click back to Control Panel Home, click again on Ease of Access, at this point I get the Windows Explorer has stopped message. It does not matter which headings I choose always on the third click on a heading it does not have to be the same heading the error occurs. Have restarted Laptop but to no avail. Anyone got any Ideas on what is happening.

I just tried this and was able to go back and forth 10 times with no problems, so it's not something that always happens. I wonder if you are memory constrained? How much memory (RAM) does the laptop have? How much free hard drive space?Rich

Have 2gb Ram and 214GB of free space, so dont think its a resouce problem.

Does it happen if you boot to Safe Mode?Rich

No the problem is not there when booting in Safe Mode, but is back again when normal boot. Its regular and is always when clicking on a feature(s) in Control Panel the 3rd time.Cliff

Hi Cliff, I cannot reproduce this issue either. Since the issue does not occur in Safe Mode, please check if it occurs in Clean Boot mode by the steps below. This method will help us determine if this issue is caused by a loading program or service. 1. Click the Start Button type "msconfig" (without quotation marks) in the Start Search box, and then press Enter. Note: If prompted, please click Continue on the User Account Control (UAC) window. 2. Click the "Services" tab, check the "Hide All Microsoft Services" box and click "Disable All" (if it is not gray). 3. Click the "Startup" tab, click "Disable All" and click "OK". Then, restart the computer. When the "System Configuration Utility" window appears, please check the "Don't show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows starts" box and click OK. Please test this issue in the Clean Boot environment, if the issue disappears in the Clean Boot environment, we can use a 50/50 approach to quickly narrow down which entry is causing the issue. Also, please use ShellExView to disable third party extension of Windows Explorer: ===== 1. Download ShellExView v1.41 from the following link http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.zip Please Note: The third-party product discussed here is manufactured by a company that is independent of Microsoft. We make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability. 2. Right-click the "shexview.zip" file, select "Extract All", the Extraction Wizard will prompt. 3. Click Next, input "C:\ShellExView" (without the quotation marks) in the "Files will be extracted to this directory" textbox. 4. Click Next and click Finnish. 5. Open the "C:\ShellExView" folder and double-click the "shexview.exe" file. It will scan the registry for all the shell extensions. 6. Select all the non-Microsoft extensions in pink by press "Ctrl" in the keyboard. 7. Click the "Disable Selected Items" on the toolbar and click Yes. 8. Restart your computer and check if the issue is resolved. Hope this helps. Regards, Linda

Hi LindaThanks for suggestions, tried both to no avail, the problem is still there, since posting the original thread, I have reinstalled Windows 7 clean install onto formatted disk, with no other software installed the problem is there.Cliff

Hi Cliff, Since the issue persists after a clean install, it should be related to the hardware. Please unplug all unnecessary devices to test the issue. In this situation, your system will only have the basic hardware devices and it should be more stable. If it is inconvenient to unplug the devices, we can disable them in Device Manager. Please refer to the following steps: 1. Click "Start", type "DEVMGMT.MSC" in the Search textbox and press Enter. Please click Allow if the User Account Control window is prompted.2. Expand "Sound, video and game controllers". 3. Right click on your Sound Card,select "Properties"4. Click "Driver" tab, click Disable (Disable the selected device). Click OK 5. Please use the same method to disable other hardware such as: Modem, network card, CD-R drive. Please note some devices such as video adapter are not available to be disabled. Then, restart your computer. What is the result? If the issue persists, please check if the issue is related to the memory. Regards, Linda

Hi LindaThanks again for the new suggestions, but regret still have the problem.Regarding memory, I have 2 x 1gb chips, I removed 1 chip and restarted, still had the problem. I removed the remaining chip and replaced with the one I removed first, again still got the problem. Tried last night with various ideas, the only difference was on a couple of occasions instead of Windows Explorer restarting, I got a plain white window with the message " Page Failed to Load" when I closed the window up popped the Windows Explorer error. Any more suggestions you can offer.Cliff

Hi Cliff, What is the version of your Windows 7? Is it Windows 7 RC or Windows 7 RTM? Also, did you install any driver after the clean install of Windows 7? If so, please uninstall the drivers and see if the issue occurs. In the meantime, could you please provide a screenshot of the Control Panel items? For your reference, I have included the steps below: 1. Go to Start -> Control Panel. 2. Select "Small Icons" for "View by" on the right top of the window. 3. Start, type snipping in the Search box and then press Enter. 4. Drag the cursor on the Control Panel window and capture a screenshot for all the items listed. 5. Click File -> Save As 6. Type a file name in the "File name:" box, for example: "screenshot". 7. Make sure "JPEG (*.JPG;*.JPEG;*.JPE;*.JFIF)" is selected in the "Save as type" box, click "Desktop" on the left pane and then click "Save". 8. Please upload the screenshot to your SkyDrive at www.skydrive.live.com and let us know the link. Also, please provide the System Information as well: 1. Press Start, type in msinfo32 in the Start Search bar and then press Enter. 2. Choose Save from the File menu and save it as an NFO file. 3. Find the file, right-click on this file, click "Send To", and click "Compressed (zipped) Folder". 4. Upload the compressed file to SkyDrive at www.skydrive.live.com FYI: Use SkyDrive to upload collected files and post screen shot/picture. Regards, Linda

Hi LindaThanks for reply, I am using Windows 7 Premium Home the Public Version released on 22 Oct.Regarding driver installation during and after Windows clean install I did not install any other software etc prior to checking that the problem still existed.I have uploaded to Sydrive the info you requested, The Link is Cliff-Skydrive-Public, I hope this will help you.Cliff

Hi Cliff, Could you please provide the direct link of your Skydrive? There are 248787 search results for Cliff in SkyDrive. Thanks, Linda

Hi LindaPlease try Cliff Mullinger in Skydrive, my profile in Windows Live is Cliff Mullinger, but trying to find myself using my wifes laptop has proved impossible, I have checked my profile details and all seems OK my last name is Shared Public Everyone.Hope you have more luck.Cliff

Hi LindaA followup from previous post. I have a Spare SATA drive that had Windows 7 Ultimate Installed (it was a copy of the last BETA Version prior to the public copy released on the 22nd Oct). I installed the drive into my Lenovo Laptop, and tested if the problem was there, it was not the System did not show any problems.After testing I formatted the hard drive using the Windows Home Premium Copy I have, and installed Windows Home onto it. I took the following steps prior to installing. Turned Off my Wireless Router so that the installation could not download updates or see the Internet. During the installation process I did not activate Windows or instal any software other than Windows. After installation I tested the system no problems were detected the system worked fine.I am not surewhat conclusion you can get from that, other than the problem is software related, possibly a Lenovo Driver or a Windows update.I intend over the weekend to reinstall Windows 7 onto my main SATA drive (after formatting) use the same procedure mentioned above i.e. no Internet access, then do a step by step config, to see if I can detect what is causing the problem, will get back to you when completed.RegardsCliff

Hi LindaProblem solved, after a clean install not allowing any updates system was OK no problem, on setting Windows update to only check and inform updates where ready but not installing, I installed each update 1 at a time starting with the following update that Windows 7 stated was important - Intel Corp Display Mobile 945 Express Chipset Family - It is this driver that causes the problem, after installing Windows Explorer behaves erratically, after restoring Windows back to a restore point prior to Installing the driver the problem dissapears. Running Intels system checker it advised that the Video driver I currently have is upto date, so have no idea why Windows Update picks up this update. Needless to say I have intention of installing it.Many thanks for your help.RegardsCliff