Windows 7

[cowpatz]

After having suffered with Vista I thought that Windows 7 would put Microsoft back on track. Alas not so.
Despite careful and regular maintenance the problems have started again.
Programs taking a while before they start to load up but worst of all the "Windows explorer is not responding" message accompanied by the extremely annoying rotating time out cursor.
That usually locks the computer up until it decides to let you back...could be 30 secs could be 5 min or not at all.
Looking at the net this seems to be a major problem with Win 7 and causing a lot of users to claim "enough" and move to the dark side...Mac.
Why is it that it seems we have to reload Microsoft's operating system (whichever one) on what seems to be an ongoing and on an almost annual basis?
What a real pain in the arse and to be honest I am getting really pissed off with it. Not just the fact that it is playing up but the way Microsoft just seem to ignore the problem exists.
Have tried the usual things like system restore etc but to no avail.
Its not just an op sys reload that is a pain in the butt but having to reload all the other programs again.

[Dontcopy]

Hmmmm what are your system specs?
And when you upgraded from Vista did you do a clean install or an upgrade?

[cowpatz]

Q6600 overclocked to 3.3G
4 Mb DDR3 RAM
HD4870

Upgrade from Vista to save a complete software reload. I normally believe in fresh installs but this has worked well for a year or so and then this carry on. I have dicked about with it and managed to sort out the right click annoyance but not sure for how long.

[Dontcopy]

OK, um if your using avast anti-virus I think you should do a boot time scan, just in case. I suppose it's possible that your O/c is unstable but I doubt that.
Anyway good luck mate

[gdavies]

Don't give up, my experiences with Windows 7 have all been positive. I'd never go back. Having said this, I don't have a silver bullet for you.

Have you tried using Process Explorer (from Sysinternals) see what processes are taking up all the time (assuming the issue is a CPU hog). In case you haven't used Process Explorer before, you can get it from www.sysinternals.com. It's like Task Manger on steroids and it's free.

[Rotordude]

chance are you have a bad 3rd context handler or such playing havoc with explorer. I find it amusing that MS is to blame for this, it's usually 9 times out of ten something you have installed or done.
It would be akin to me filling my petrol tank with diesel and blaming Mitsubishi because it wont run properly if at all.

open msconfig select Diagnostic startup reboot and I bet bottom dollar that puppy will boot and run as fast as the day you installed 7. If it does not then wind back your OC a little and try again.

Number 1 context handler issue for windows non responds - AV's and HIPs

Vista Ultimate installed 4.5 years SP2, still running strong..... No issues what so ever. If it was a MS fault everyone's system would be doing it.

[cowpatz]

I have used shellxview to go thru all the context handlers and that was fruitless.
I have used MSCONFIG and got the right click responsiveness back to near where it was. I'm still not quite satisfied that it is as good as it was when first loaded. Interestingly system restore makes no difference and trying a repair with an upgrade disc is a waste of time.
MSE is the AV I use and the overclock has been stable for over a year and tests well under load. If I was running 3.6g then I would question the overclock, but under the current config it would more likely crash under high load and it doesn't.
Memory tested OK and reloaded new Video drivers.
I will try that Process explorer and see what is happening. Thanks for the recommendation.

If you do a Google search for "Windows explorer crashes" or "not responding" you will see the extent of the problem. 100's of posts in all computer forums. It is a huge problem and has been with every version of Windows but to varying degrees.
MS needs to find a better way of protecting the registry and system files or at least have a better way of restoring it back to how it was.

[dnkiwi]

hi cowpatz i would sugguest making contact with microsoft's tech team and having one of their guys assist you as they are really on to it with tweaks and fixes as i suspect it could be a minor probelm thats it causeing your grief they have a toll free number that i would be happy to pm you if that would help

[deaneb]

I've put up with that silly "explorer not responding" message for ages too. I just close the message and carry on going !! If you find a cure - I'd love to know too.

[Dontcopy]

Hmmm are you running Internet explorer 9, 9 beta or 8?

[deaneb]

I'm running IE 8

[SgtPepper]

I have Mozilla Firefox and windows 7... way better.

[cowpatz]

I'm running IE9, Sea Monkey, Palemoon, Firefox and Chrome....I have trouble choosing which one to keep.

I managed to get my system to run Ok without the annoying message by using MSCONFIG.
1. Go to SERVICES tab and check Hide all Microsoft services check box.
2. Disable half the list and then reboot and check for error. If there is no error anymore the problem is in the first half of the list. If the error persists then renable the first half and disable the second half and reboot. Check for error.
3. Once you have determined which half of the list the error is in you can half that list and keep halving until you find the offending service.

There is a chance that the problem might be to do with a program so if no luck above then go to STARTUP tab and use the same method as for the SERVICES tab.

As was mentioned in an earlier post you could also do a diagnostic Startup which can be selected on the GENERAL tab.