FWIW: I too was a victim of this problem and stumbled on the cause accidentally. Unfortunately, I did so too late to save myself from the belief that a complete wipe and reinstall from a slipstreamed XPSP2 disc was the only answer. (BTW, I'm glad anyway. My machine is running quite a bit faster now!)

But in my case at least, it is not Divx in general; it is only Dr. Divx. I uninstalled Dr. Divx 105 and left Divx 5.2, and my right-click works fine. In addition, I can encode with Divx 5.2 without crashing either XP or Divx.

^^;; Copy the following into a notepad file and save it as 'remove.reg' and run it - this should fix your crash problem

REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellexContextMenuHandlersEncodeDivXExt]

it will remove the 'encode using dr. divx' option from the right click menu, which remedies the right click = explorer crash problem.

<ul id="quote"><h6>InfestedNexus wrote:</h6>^^;; Copy the following into a notepad file and save it as 'remove.reg' and run it - this should fix your crash problem

REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellexContextMenuHandlersEncodeDivXExt]

it will remove the 'encode using dr. divx' option from the right click menu, which remedies the right click = explorer crash problem.</ul>

That's an interesting way around the problem! Thanks!

That worked a treat! thanks!!!
But I just want to say I have had SP2 for over 2 weeks now working with DrDivx105 with no problems. This problem only started today when I upgraded Nortons Internet Security 2003 up to 2004.
Very wierd how doing this needed the Divx option to be disabled???

For your convenience: http://www.infestednexus.co.nr/drdivxsp2rightcl...

:D thanks man, that really helped. i couldnt believe that it was so easy. i really appreciate it. ill be coming back here more.

In my case it was WinAce who had added a context handler to '*' (every file/directory entry).

I removed the key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellexContextMenuHandlersZFAdd

and now my Explorer stays alive during right clicks.

Thanx for the clue folks!

Cheers man.. that fixed my problem..

also does anyoen know how to get dr divx to work properly unders winxp sp2?

I tried installing/uninstalling various vid codec and player files a few times but to no avail..

It worked. You guys are great. I've tried to fix it for two days now but no result and removing the Dr Divx shellextensions fixed it.

Thanks.

Windows SP2 forums have been zero help-and MS took no responsibility and this malady has plagued me months!

I am so relieved someone else *somewhere* is having this prob too! Thank for the fix-you have no idea how much this will help me! xoxo

<ul id="quote"><h6>sharksrevenge wrote:</h6>Windows SP2 forums have been zero help-and MS took no responsibility and this malady has plagued me months!

I am so relieved someone else *somewhere* is having this prob too! Thank for the fix-you have no idea how much this will help me! xoxo</ul>

No problem! Glad we could help.

thankyou all
this was driving me crazy :D

I've removed most of the menu items from the r-click menu via regedit, but I'm still having the problem. Is there a reg key that refers to the context menu of folders? I'm sure there is, I just need to know what it is.

duh...

could it be under "folder"? lol - found it... :roll:

the full reg key is:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTFoldershellexContextMenuHandlers

I'll post in case anyone is having the same problem I am, where it's isolated to folders.

I removed the folder context menu entries for Norton 2004 & it worked.

more specifically:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTFoldershellexContextMenuHandlers(the norton entry)

8)

Thanks for the drdivx regfix!!!
I almost kicked the comp out of the window :!:

Found the DrDivx entry and removed it (though I don't recall installing DrDivx, only Divx). Right-clicking in Explorer no longer crashes - THANKS!

w00t, I too almost put my foot thru the monitor :D

thx for the fix InfestedNexus :D

God Bless You :D Worked Awesome.

I had the same problem. I went to the aforementioned registry folder and deleted a folder for the spysweeper program. Right click works fine now. Thanks for the help.

Found this post in the first 20 minutes and the .reg file worked great.

My kid thanks you as well, cause I just gave him admin rights and was getting the blame.

THANKS

I have WinXP SP1 for a year or so now. Then for no reason explorer started behaving strangely as most of the time i right click anywhere on the right explorer pane it crashed :(

I recently attempted to install some SP3 patches for my Office 2002 SP2 and the GDI+ bug, but they failed to install (and still won't install properly because I somehow originally installed them administrativly and I'm not allowed to apply the Office SP3 patch).

I deleted the divx context menu at it seems fine (for now)!! :)
THANKS!!

<ul id="quote"><h6>InfestedNexus wrote:</h6>^^;; Copy the following into a notepad file and save it as 'remove.reg' and run it - this should fix your crash problem

REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellexContextMenuHandlersEncodeDivXExt]

it will remove the 'encode using dr. divx' option from the right click menu, which remedies the right click = explorer crash problem.</ul>

That was GREAT!! Thanks for this answer - I was tearing my hair out trying to fix this. You dudes rock! :D 8)

Same here : exact same symptoms, I applied the reg file and voila.

Thank you very much.

<ul id="quote"><h6>sharksrevenge wrote:</h6>Windows SP2 forums have been zero help-and MS took no responsibility and this malady has plagued me months!

I am so relieved someone else *somewhere* is having this prob too! Thank for the fix-you have no idea how much this will help me! xoxo</ul>

WOW. Thanks much!

You are a life saver !!! :lol:

Thank you soo much! That helped my right click problem I was having, now I have to go find some solutions to my other issues with this piece of ####!! LOL Thanks again all :)

well ive tried almost everything, i dont have dr.divx so that reg key isnt there...

there was however a norton key which i stupidly deleted lol, not that its changed anything,

i tried changing the DEP from "OptIn" to "AlwaysOff" still nothing

flashback

my problem is, that whenever i right click on the desktop explorer crashes and then dr watson crashs lol

its so annoying

someone please help me!!!

It is likely related to some entry in this section of your registry:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTFoldershellexContextMenuHandlers

There is no way that we can guess what it is.

You can try removing them one by one and see if it helps. If it doesn't, you can restore your computer and try again.

I am having the same problem every once in a while, but i do not have any divx anything installed on my system...Any Ideas?

I have been having the same problem with my Windows XP just after i installed the SP2. I followed the regedit solution but I didn't have DivX. So I deleted the items in the contextmenu folder one by one and now I have deleted them all and I still have the problem. What do I need to do? Should I reinstall Windows?(Although I have no clue how to) Any suggestions anybody? I can't take this computer much longer. Thanks

InfestedNexus you are my God many thanks :D

really work, thanks again

Thanks to the responses here I have solved my pain in the butt problem. Removing Dr. Divx was the fix. I have spent hours trying to figure this out.
Right click on a file to get properties or delete and the computer locks up.

Thanks Again

captstokes

Mine still isn't fixed, and i'm really at my wits end here.

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 5:20 pm Post subject: Temporary fix

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
really worked!!! :lol:
<font color="blue"></font><ul id="quote">^^;; Copy the following into a notepad file and save it as 'remove.reg' and run it - this should fix your crash problem

REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellexContextMenuHandlersEncodeDivXExt]

it will remove the 'encode using dr. divx' option from the right click menu, which remedies the right click = explorer crash problem.
</ul>

control panel/system/ advance/ performance settings/data execution tab
select the bottom radio button
and in the box add explorer.exe

just found my solution...

Had the same problem for the last 3 weeks and was alomost ready to reformat ma entire computer!@#$% And this morning, as i turn on my computer, mcAfee alerts me a trojan was found in drDivxRegister.exe. Unable to delete the file, i just uninstalled Divx and everything finally worked...
This is a new trojan updated since a week...

<font color="red">
name: PWS-Ilg.dr
</font>
Problem with divx... hehe, i sure now understand why.... :x

I just un-installed Dr divx, and this just fixed my problem!!!!!! You just saved me hours of re-working my system.

THanks!

Thanks guys you saved my sanity :lol:

Thanks InfestedNexus...worked for me too.

SpySweeper under the Folders/shellex was again the problem on my computer.

Thanks for where to look!

<ul id="quote"><h6>HasseMan wrote:</h6>In my case it was WinAce who had added a context handler to '*' (every file/directory entry).

I removed the key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellexContextMenuHandlersZFAdd

and now my Explorer stays alive during right clicks.

Thanx for the clue folks!</ul>

I would like to thank everybody for the helpful tips and especially Hasseman, because I just deleted winrar, winzip, acrobat reader and some other stuff which I wouldn't use anyway wit ha rightclick and it worked like a charm...

and best of all, it even didn't need a restart of my computer !!!

Thanks man !!

you know..
I'm running w2k and had the same issue and this FIXED it
you guys are GREAT!!
thanks

Thanks for the hint. A menu entry for Yahoo Mail was what hosed mine. I removed that as people have for other applications and problem solved.

The regedit trick worked for me also. If I hadn't happed upon this forum i woould have re-formatted. Thanks for saving me many hours needless work.

cheers guys.

I kind of fixed it. lol. I did most of what was said, but no joy, unitl i uninstalled winrar. Now my right clcik works...BUT....it was a little slow? maybe 4 or 5 seconds, but it didn't crash or anything. lol. So should i be happy?

It did fix it. The 4 or 5 secs pause has now gone all by itself. I can instanly see what my options are when i right clcik.

thanks guys

I too have messed about with this for hours since SP2 installed.

Invaluable info here.

How exactly do I do what you're talking about here though?

<ul id="quote"><h6>geetus wrote:</h6>I removed the folder context menu entries for Norton 2004 & it worked.

more specifically:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTFoldershellexContextMenuHandlers(the norton entry)

8)</ul>

Reference another related fix/work-around:

XP: After installation of Steganos Security Suite, the Context Menu is Slow

:D Thanks, worked 1st time :lol:

I reinstalled my video drivers and that worked for me

Fix the problem by uninstal Dr divx.

<ul id="quote"><h6>InfestedNexus wrote:</h6>^^;; Copy the following into a notepad file and save it as 'remove.reg' and run it - this should fix your crash problem

REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellexContextMenuHandlersEncodeDivXExt]

it will remove the 'encode using dr. divx' option from the right click menu, which remedies the right click = explorer crash problem.</ul>

THANKS SO MUCH! Worked great. Been driving me nuts for the longest, and I'm a sysadmin! Great job.

<ul id="quote"><h6>cmwatson wrote:</h6>How exactly do I do what you're talking about here though?

</ul><ul id="quote"><h6>geetus wrote:</h6>I removed the folder context menu entries for Norton 2004 & it worked.

more specifically:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTFoldershellexContextMenuHandlers(the norton entry)

8)</ul>

Start -> Run -> type in "regedit" (no quotes). Navigate to the folder specified through the tree structure (each slash represents an opening of that folder before it, and looking for the new one that is specified after the slash as being under it), when you get to the ContextMenuHandlers folder single-click on just the Norton entry and hit the Delete key.

Actually, it only temporarily worked. It started for me when I was right-clicking my "My Computer" drives, and started up again about 30 secs. after running the reg file, and running it again had no effect. I found another fix on another site that I haven't seen posted here yet that worked permanently for those with SpySweeper.

Open the SpySweeper program itself to its full window (right-click the icon for it by your clock if you have it load at startup, looks like a target circle, hit restore), hit "Options", uncheck "Add Sweep for Spyware to Windows Explorer Context Menu". This worked for me permanently.

Actually, it only temporarily worked. It started for me when I was right-clicking my "My Computer" drives, and started up again about 30 secs. after running the reg file, and running it again had no effect. I found another fix on another site that I haven't seen posted here yet that worked permanently for those with SpySweeper.

Open the SpySweeper program itself to its full window (right-click the icon for it by your clock if you have it load at startup, looks like a target circle, hit restore), hit "Options", uncheck "Add Sweep for Spyware to Windows Explorer Context Menu". This worked for me permanently.

I've been having this problem for months. When I go to "My Computer," then right click on the "C" drive, I get the hourglass for a few seconds, then Explorer crashes, I lose all my desktop icons for another few seconds, then they all return. This also happens when I right click on a few different icons in the "Control Panel" screen and other various programs.

I read an earlier posting regarding the DIVX issue. Here it is:

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 5:20 pm Post subject: Temporary fix

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

^^;; Copy the following into a notepad file and save it as 'remove.reg' and run it - this should fix your crash problem

REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT*shellexContextMenuHandlersEncodeDivXExt]

it will remove the 'encode using dr. divx' option from the right click menu, which remedies the right click = explorer crash problem

I'm pretty much a novice when it comes to computers, and really nervous/unsure when it comes to editing the registry, so could someone give me VERY DETAILED step-by-step instuctions on how to perform this fix? I really need each part of the procedure explained. Or, are there any other issues that might be causing this problem?

I did a cursory look on my computer (looking at add/remove programs, etc.) and didn't see anything related to DIVX, but maybe I didn't look in the correct place. By the way, regarding background, I installed SP2 when it was released and loaded it my Toshiba laptop and my HP Desktop. I had problems with both computers after the install, so I uninstalled it on both and now only have SP1 on both machines. And, I do have this right-click problem on both machines.

Any help/advice/instructions would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks so much!!

As has been previously stated in this thread, your problem is likely related to a bad entry in this area of your registry:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTFoldershellexContextMenuHandlers

I would suggest uninstalling anything that appears to be placing entries in this region.

If you are a registry guru, you can try deleting the registry entries under the above folder one by one until your right-click works. If you are not comfortable with the registry, just find somebody who is.

Nobody is going to be able to walk you through this, I am afraid, because we don't know which context menu handler is causing your problem.

Hi Davak,

Thanks for your message. Regarding context menu issues/problems, I did follow the directions in Method 2 below:

SYMPTOMS
When you right-click a file/folder, there may be a huge delay before Windows displays the context menu

When you try to empty Recycle Bin (from Common Tasks), it opens Quick Finder instead

When you click "Play All" in the Music or Videos folder Common Tasks, nothing may happen

When you select multiple files and right click and open / print nothing happens. Whereas, selecting a single file in explorer and right click and open / print, it works fine.

When you right-click a folder in the Start Menu and choose Open or Explore, nothing may happen. (Whereas, it works fine in Windows Explorer)

Error message "Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience" when you right-click a folder

Right-click is extremely slow when Network is enabled, and normal with NIC disabled

When you right-click on a folder and choose Properties, nothing may happen.

CAUSE
These problems are caused by a poorly coded context menu handler. A context menu handler is a shell extension handler that adds commands to an existing context menu (Example: cut, copy, paste, print, Scan with Norton etc). A poorly coded context menu handler may be causing any of the above symptoms. As context menu handlers can be implemented at different areas (file class, folder, allfilesystemobjects, HKCR* registry keys), it's a difficult task for an end-user to pinpoint which shell-extension / context menu handler is causing the problem.


SOLUTION
If you are not confident about dealing with registry, proceed to method 2.

Method 1
First, isolate the problem. Observe when the problem occurs. While right-clicking a particular file type? While right-clicking Folders? While right-clicking all file types? As said earlier, context menu handlers can load from any of these areas:

Registry Key
Description

HKCR *shellexcontextmenuhandlers
Files

HKCRAllFileSystemObjectsshellex contextmenuhandlers
Files and file folders

HKCRFoldershellexcontextmenuhandlers
Folders

HKCRDirectoryshellexcontextmenuhandlers
File Folders

HKCR<ProgID>shellexcontextmenuhandlers File class

HKCRDirectoryBackgroundshellexContextMenuHandlers Desktop


If any of the symptoms occur when you deal with a folder, then you may need to inspect the context menu handlers loaded in these areas (AllFileSystemObjects, Folder, Directory). If it's only for a .txt file, inspect the file class of .txt file (HKCRtxtfile). Open Registry Editor and backup the selected branch, delete the context menu handlers one-by-one.

Related Information : Manage the context-menu entries for folders, drives and Namespace objects

Method 2 - Using ShellExView to determine the Context-menu causing the problem
ShellExView lets you view all installed shell extensions. If available, it displays the description, as well as version details, company information, location, file name and more. You can optionally disable/enable any item, which can be very useful to disable an extension, that you don t need or that has been left behind in your right click menu from a previous software install.

Effective usage of ShellExView to resolve the right-click problems
Download ShellExView and run it. It will scan the registry for all the shell extensions. Once the scan is over and the list is displayed, you need to spot the context menu handlers. Sort the results using "Type", so that the context menu handlers are displayed together.


General rule here is to disable non-Microsoft context menu handlers *one-by-one* and verify if the problem is solved. If disabling one does not solve the problem, undo the disabled item and disable the next non-Microsoft handler. Do the same until the problem is solved and finally identify the culprit. Scroll right to see the Company Name column in ShellExView.

The latest version of ShellExView (v1.10) marks all the non-Microsoft extensions in Pink for easy identification. All other types of shell extensions that ShellExView utility cannot recognize are categorized as "System" type.

Problems when you right-click an empty area in the Desktop?
If you have a problem when you right-click on a blank area on the Desktop, then you need to inspect the handlers in this registry key. I don't think ShellExView enumerates the items from here:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryBackgroundshellexContextMenuHandlers

The only handler present by default (in a clean XP installation) is the New handler. If you find any additional sub-keys there, it may have be added by third-party applications. Usually, the software that comes with your graphic card adds entries to the above location. Here is one instance, an article from the Intel Graphics Controller website. Intel® 82865G Graphics Controller - Removing the custom desktop right click context menu (Thanks to Cliff for sending in this link)



NOTE: It may not be caused by a context-menu handler always, but a PropertySheet handler or an Icon Handler can also be causing the right-click issues. Few have reported that the Property Sheet handler "Property Sheet - IIS W3ext Module" (XP Professional) was responsible for the folder properties issue (See Case:8 in the Symptoms section above), and that reinstalling IIS from Add/Remove Windows Components fixed the problem.

In one peculiar case, it was the shimgvw.dll module Shell Image Verbs - {e84fda7c-1d6a-45f6-b725-cb260c236066} itself causing the problem. In case of system files, try running SFC /Scannow to fix the problem.

I went through all the non-Microsoft context menu items - first, disabling them one by one, then enabling them, and the problem continued.

Any other advice out there as to what a newbie/novice should do? I don't particularly want to pay someone to deal with this issue and I don't really know anyone who's confortable enough with registry issues/editing to help me.

Thanks again for any and all advice!!

EDNA:

I still suspect that your problem lives in those context menu handlers; however, the method you describe is pretty efficent. I am not sure that anybody is going to be able to help you thought just in a forum.

If you safe boot (tapping f8 after a reboot until the boot menu appears), do you still get the error?

No, when I boot up in Safe Mode, the right-click function works fine. Any other ideas of things I could check?

If it is a Divx issue, wouldn't I have seen the specific word "divx" somewhere when I went through the context-menu files? I didn't notice it at all. Most postings I've read regarding this problem seem to be related to the divx issue. And with most I've read, it seemed very easy for them to solve the problem. I was hoping it would be that easy for me.

As I mentioned, I'm more of a novice and therefore, looking for more help/instructions to find a solution.

Thanks again.

I had similar problem (see below) and none of above helped. When I carefully looked at the microsoft error report I found out that incdex.dll was the problem. I found out that this is secondary to nero express. I uninstalled nero express and viola no problem.
javascript:emoticon(':P')
Razz
Problem: when I right click in MY COMPUTER or EXPLORER on a drive the computer would crash. All above solutions did not work.

see below

http://ww2.nero.com/nero7/enu/InCD_CleanTool.html

cleans INCD out of system. You can then reinstall Nero

Sandeep 4

Sweet! It worked!

Thank you pa-lease..... my life is saving you.... loving you is me.......
thank you pa-lease

Phew, I thought it was just my PC, didn't realise it was a known and easy to fix problem. Now I don't have to wipe my hard drive! Thank you!!! :D

I need help please,

everytime i double click on: "My Computer", "My Pictures", Control Panel, or anything that allows me to view directories, the computer crashes then gives me an option to send an error report then refreshes. It's driving me crazy, can anyone help.