Rain Recording

There's nothing worse than being in the heat of a project and having something as basic as the Explorer file system in Windows let you down. The fault is most often not Microsoft's: installers for other software very often patch the file system. That can help developers add useful features. It allows some of my favorite things on Windows, like one-click access to editing in text editors like Notepad++, easy unzipping using my favorite compression utility 7-Zip, and even power features like the programmer-friendly TortoiseSVN. (Ask a friendly neighborhood coder why that matters.) But when this extensibility is misused, it can also add instability.

Explorer problems can be manifested as symptoms like these:

• Frequent Explorer crashes, or instances in which Windows tells you it must restart Explorer
• File folders that hang unexpectedly
• Contextual menus that take too long to open
• Crashes when you try to use a contextual menu

These all indicate a high likelihood of errant third-party software. Shell Extensions are, as the name implies, software objects that extend Windows Explorer. When they misbehave, they can take all of Explorer with them.

Nuke Bad Shell Extensions

Fortunately, it's pretty easy to troubleshoot the problem - and in the process, you can clean up contextual menus with too much distracting stuff on them. You'll want to make use of a utility that allows you to view and disable software you don't need or that you suspect of causing problems.

My favorite choice is a free utility called ShellExView:

www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html

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It's got lots of options and provides an insane amount of technical detail on individual extensions. Its most important features are the ability to disable "context menus" (those extra options like "open in PurplePaint" that appear when you right-click an item), and "shell folders" (virtual folders, like a folder that shows you items synced from your mobile device).

To deep-six a problematic shell extension, install and launch ShellExView. On first glance, you probably have way too much information. There are individual columns, for instance, that show in which context you'll see a shell extension be active. Zero in on the columns that will help you troubleshoot:

1. Trust Microsoft: I know; that's not usually the advice you get. But let's assume it's not a Microsoft shell extension causing trouble - a safe bet, as most of these are used by Windows. Click the Microsoft column on the far right, and view the third-party software only. (It's also highlighted in pink.)
2. Think Recent: If your problem surfaced recently, try selecting the "File Created Time" column. This will allow problematic shell extensions to pop to the top of the list. You might also try the "CLSID Modified Time," which shows when changes were made to the registry.
3. Clean House: If a Context Menu item is just getting on your nerves, select the "Type" column and scroll down to "Context Menu." You can then disable individual items you don't want to appear - and you can always change your mind and go back later.

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Once you've zeroed in on items you want to turn off, right-click the item in question and choose "Disable Selected Items." You can disable all sorts of menu items that don't really matter to you. You can even turn off the "send to" service, which is often a culprit in slow performance of this menu.

That's all there is to it! This can make a big difference in Explorer stability. Naturally, now that you know how to use ShellExView, you can keep an eye on these kinds of issues when you install software, rather than waiting for a problem to appear down the road.