WindowsExplorer locks up if the folder has a video in it

[jack_eb]

If I browse through my harddrive to a folder that has an avi file in it, I'm fine.
But when I move the mouse over an avi file, the explorer window locks up.
Because it only locks up when I rollover the file, I'm guessing the problem lies with whatever information it is trying to display in the roll-over-popup-fileinfo-window.


Has anyone else experienced this kind of problem?
Any ideas how to fix?


Thanks


Its worth noting over the past few days I've installed alot of software and codecs mentioned on this site and doom9. Gknot, several codec packs, etc.

[redwudz]

I'd start by removing all those codec packs and hope you haven't done any major damage to the OS by installing them. One codec pack is one too many.

You're right about Explorer, it's trying to ID the file and gather information. It will lock up when it can't do this. It happens commonly on corrupt video files. In that case, if you can't fix the file, delete it. You might even find that is difficult.

If all this started after the codec packs installation, there's your answer.

[jack_eb]

I uninstalled everything codec related and that fixed the problem.
Reinstalled ffdshow so the media is still viewable.

I'm not sure what prompted me over the weekend to install so many different codecs. Its all kindof a blur, the last 72hrs have kinda been a marathon-crunchtime-editing session, lol.

cheers

[redwudz]

At least it was easy to fix. The problem with codec packs is they put in codecs you need and codecs you don't want. Sometimes their codecs are old versions, also. You may be alright just installing one or two from the pack, just not the whole thing. And they can cause all kinds of conflicts, some serious enough that a reinstall of Windows is the easiest cure.

The method I use is to drop the unknown video into Gspot or AVIcodec to see what it needs to play. Then install only that codec. ffdshow is a codec pack also, but it works well for most Divx/Xvids and rarely causes conflicts.