I apologize if this is a repost. If it is a repost would someone send me a link to that discussion.

My problem is very odd. The explorer shell (explorer.exe in task manager) crashes every now and then. Actually, it crashes at least 1-5 times a week. Everything disappear except for the background for a second or so and then explorer start back again. It shutdown all running softwares.

I have scan for virus using Symantec, and scan for spywares using Spybot S&D and Ad-aware. My system is clean of all these annoyances. And my computer is only 3-4 months old.

Does anyone know what is going on?

Here is my system spec:
Dell PowerEdge 400SC
Pentium 4 2.4Ghz
1 gig ram

It could be a myriad of things causing this problem unfortunately. It could be a program that is not working properly or was programmed improperly or spyware/viruses that have not been found by the standard means.

Lets rule out the spyware/viruses by following these steps:

Create a directory on your hardrive to save HijackThis.exe. A directory like c:\hijackthis. If you do not do this, you will not be able to use the backup/restore features.

Download HijackThis from:

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/hijackthis.zip

or here:

http://computercops.biz/downloads-cat-14.html

Save this file into the directory you made previously and then run the program named hijackthis.exe. When the program opens click on the Config button, then click on the Misc Tools button, and click on the Check for update online button. When it completes checking/applying updates press the back button.

Now click on the Scan button and when it is finished click on the Save Log button. A Notepad window will open with the contents of this log. Click on Edit then click on Select all. Then click on Edit and then Click on Copy.

Create a reply to this post here and right click in message area and select paste to paste the log into the post.

Someone will reply to you after reading this post. DO NOT fix any entries unless you understand what you are doing.

To see a tutorial with screenshots on using HijackThis you can click on the link below:

How to use HijackThis to remove Browser Hijackers & Spyware

Thanks for the help.

Here is my HijackThis log:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.98.0
Scan saved at 10:29:40 PM, on 6/30/2004
Platform: Windows XP SP1 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\SYMANT~1\vptray.exe
C:\Program Files\D-Tools\daemon.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\SYMANT~1\DefWatch.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\SYMANT~1\Rtvscan.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE
C:\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {1B7D753B-1981-4bd2-91F3-6D055EE113A0} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: Curl - {A78CC2FF-6E4E-4556-B27C-D7C3A70D7A50} - (no file)
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msdxm.ocx
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [vptray] C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\SYMANT~1\vptray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DAEMON Tools-1033] "C:\Program Files\D-Tools\daemon.exe" -lang 1033
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LVDNISAKY] C:\WINDOWS\LVDNISAKY.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [KernelFaultCheck] %systemroot%\system32\dumprep 0 -k
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel present
O9 - Extra button: AIM - {AC9E2541-2814-11d5-BC6D-00B0D0A1DE45} - F:\Nhan\AIM95\AIM95_c1\aim.exe
O16 - DPF: {62475759-9E84-458E-A1AB-5D2C442ADFDE} - http://a1540.g.akamai.net/7/1540/52/200404...meInstaller.exe
O16 - DPF: {87067F04-DE4C-4688-BC3C-4FCF39D609E7} - http://download.websearch.com/Dnl/T_50038/QDow_AS2.cab
O16 - DPF: {9EB320CE-BE1D-4304-A081-4B4665414BEF} (MediaTicketsInstaller Control) - http://www.mt-download.com/MediaTicketsInstaller.cab

You definitely have some items in here that we need to remove. Please follow these directions:

I want you to fix some of those entries. Please do the following:


Please make sure that you can view all hidden files. Instructions on how to do this can be found here:

How to see hidden files in Windows

Run Hijackthis again, click scan, and Put a checkmark next to each of these. Then click the Fix button

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LVDNISAKY] C:\WINDOWS\LVDNISAKY.exe
O16 - DPF: {87067F04-DE4C-4688-BC3C-4FCF39D609E7} - http://download.websearch.com/Dnl/T_50038/QDow_AS2.cab
O16 - DPF: {9EB320CE-BE1D-4304-A081-4B4665414BEF} (MediaTicketsInstaller Control) - http://www.mt-download.com/MediaTicketsInstaller.cab


Reboot your computer into Safe Mode and delete the following files:

Then delete these

C:\WINDOWS\LVDNISAKY.exe

Disable System Restore. You can find instructions on how to enable and reenable system restore here:

Managing Windows Millenium System Restore
or

Windows XP System Restore Guide

Renable system restore with instructions from tutorial above

Reboot your computer to go back to normal mode and post a new log.

At one time I had the same problem. I would open an explorer window or open my Start menu or right click a file, etc., and my system would freeze for a few seconds. Then, my desktop icons would disppear and return. Some of the icons for programs in the system tray would disappear and not return.

I found the solution to my problem in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. Check the following page: Article: Q329692

The solution was to download an updated duser.dll file. The page which offers the download is: DUSER.DLL Download

It worked for me... ymmv.

Rick

I have trouble updating Hijackthis, do I need to know the website to put in that box??

Thank you everyone for there help.

Here is the new log:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.98.0
Scan saved at 5:58:34 PM, on 7/1/2004
Platform: Windows XP SP1 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\SYMANT~1\vptray.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\SYMANT~1\DefWatch.exe
C:\Program Files\D-Tools\daemon.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\SYMANT~1\Rtvscan.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {1B7D753B-1981-4bd2-91F3-6D055EE113A0} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: Curl - {A78CC2FF-6E4E-4556-B27C-D7C3A70D7A50} - (no file)
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msdxm.ocx
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [vptray] C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\SYMANT~1\vptray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DAEMON Tools-1033] "C:\Program Files\D-Tools\daemon.exe" -lang 1033
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [KernelFaultCheck] %systemroot%\system32\dumprep 0 -k
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel present
O9 - Extra button: AIM - {AC9E2541-2814-11d5-BC6D-00B0D0A1DE45} - C:\Program Files\AIM\aim.exe
O16 - DPF: {62475759-9E84-458E-A1AB-5D2C442ADFDE} - http://a1540.g.akamai.net/7/1540/52/200404...meInstaller.exe

Hey RickFriedman,

My Explorer.exe crashes without me doing anything. It just randomly crashes, sometime it crashes when I have no softwares running or windows open.

Did you have that problem as well?

Anyway, I have downloaded the *.dll file. I am going to monitor and see how my computer will behave.

Thanks for the link

The log is clean at least.

Thanks Rick!

Your tip help me correct a similar problem I had for a short time.

I was going to do a restore soon if had not found the fix for the problem.

Glad it helped. I know the problem drove me crazy until I, basically, stumbled across this solution while searching the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Rick