This is maddening. When I try to go too deep into subfolders, Win Explorer on Win XP Pro, SP2, crashes, with that annoying pop-up, "Windows Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close. Sorry if you lost anything. We really don't give a rip but you can send us a little note by clicking the send report button below...."

I've run Avast! on boot-level scan and AdAware; they've found nada.

It also happens in Photoshop's file browser, only then Photoshop just crashes completely.

Update: This seems to be happening when I try to access a folder I downloaded via FTP from someone else's site I'm doing work on, and isn't a subfolder thing after all. What in the world could cause that? I wouldn't think it would be some kind of protection, 'cause I had the proper ID and password. Something tells me it's a Windows thing, maybe one of their %@#$~!!! updates.

Are you running mapped network drives with deep folders, by any chance? I've seen it once before where someone had a series of mapped drives to a server, and then started storing folder 10 levels deep. As soon as we moved stuff up a few levels, she was fine.

Nope. This is just a folder I downloaded from the server and saved in My Documents. I can access the pages from HTMLKit, but can't get to the images, 'cause as soon as I open the folder WinExplore goes belly up. It tried moving the folder already, with no effect.

tim

Have you tried creating a NEW folder and dropping the contents of the problem folders into it ?

I'd also try looking at the file names in a command window, there might be a hidden character there you're not seeing in Windows, I've seen that happen.

Originally Posted by LadynRed

Have you tried creating a NEW folder and dropping the contents of the problem folders into it ?

I can try moving all the subfolders to a new folder, but if I click on the subfolder itself, that's when WinExplore crashes, as it is now.

Originally Posted by LadynRed

I'd also try looking at the file names in a command window, there might be a hidden character there you're not seeing in Windows, I've seen that happen.

I'll give that a try and post what I find out. Thanks!

tim

Virus perhaps? If Windows locks folders or files for no reason and causes explorer.exe to crash, I would investigate a possible virus.

That was my first suspicion, but I haven't detected any viruses, and to my knowledge Avast! on boot-level scan is one of the better ones out there. WinExplorer seems to do this as well with pages I've downloaded as complete pages so I can look at the code, but does it sporadically. And, LnR, I haven't discovered any unusual characters in the files. I have discovered that by right clicking a folder and using Explore rather than opening, it doesn't crash it. ??? Curiouser and curiouser....

tim

Stupid question...what Error ID do you get in the Event Viewer when it crashes? That little bugger can often be Googled to find out a lot of good stuff.

Can you use your FTP program to view the contents of that folder?

This might narrow it down if you can.

Hmmm....Adam, I'll have to check that out; I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!

Yes, I can use the FTP to view contents server-side, but since it's happening as well with pages I've downloaded as complete, via plain old HTTP, I don't know if the problem is necessarily the files themselves. I'm starting to sniff a rat in Windows itself.

tim

Update: Well, I updated Windows, then updated Avast! and ran another boot-level scan. I'm not sure which of these took care of the problem, but it's taken care of. Thanks to everyone for their help!

tim

Probably the first one. Usually Avast isn't the problem. Avast rocks, dude.

Oh, I agree; that's why I use it. What I mean is if updating the program and database and scanning again might have found something undetected previously.

tim

For future reference, this also can relate to if you had thumbnails or large icons turned on. Switching to list or detailed view can get rid of crashes when you're dealing with deep or large folders.

Well i haven't experience this