Slightly off topic avi problem

[Bezman01]

whenever I try to open an avi file through the source folder, a microsoft programme called 'dr watson's postmortem debugger' appears, tells me there's been an error and causes my computer to crash!

I can open the files with no problems through divx player or media player, but if I want to transfer an avi file to another folder for example, even hovering the cursor over the file causes 'dr watson's' to open and crash my computer!

This never used to happen until I downloaded xvid...problem is, xvid appears to be the new standard in compressed, downloadable video and I really don't want to uninstall it...I'd rather uninstall 'dr watson's' but because it's a microsoft programme that's part of windows, it won't let me.

Has anyone else experienced this problem and is there an alternative sollution?

Thanks in advance

[celtic_druid]

Disable MS's buggy thumbnail shell extension and it should stop crashing.

[Bezman01]

Thanks celtic_druid.

Thing is, you're helping a complete amateur.
How do I disable the thumbnail shell extension please?

[northcat_8]

start > control panel > system > advanced tab

Just above the "OK CANCEL APPLY" buttons, there is a button that says "error reporting", click it and select disable.

[Bezman01]

Thanks Northcat, but I tried what you suggested and although 'dr watsons' no longer appears, my pc is still crashing whenever I hover my cursor over an avi file...which unfortunately means that 'dr watsons' may not be the problem?

Like I said, whenever I open an avi file through media player or divx player, it opens without problems, including xvid encoded files.

When I downloaded xvid, 'dr watsons' started appearing and my computer started consistently crashing whenever I tried to open an avi file from the source folder.
xvid problem?
dr watson problem?
Microsoft problem?

Again, your help is much appreciated.

[celtic_druid]

Like I said, most likely MS's thumbnail shell extension. As for how to disable it, best I can recall there are multiple ways and I can't remember any off of the top of my head.

You might also want to try updating XviD.
http://www.aziendeassociate.it/cd///XviD.cvs.head.exe
The dshow filter was recently patched to fix some problems. Might help. Should point out that it is a cvs head build, so think post 1.1.0beta1, pre 1.1.0beta2.

[DVD_NDN]

hey man

ok, EXACT same thing was happening to me too. a friend dropped by, wiped out my xvid codec (uninstalled them all really) and gave me a different codec altogether for xvid.
once that was done? absolutely no problems whatsoever.

no messing around with thumbnail this or thumbnail that (though I wish I knew about that, would have saved me alot of frustration)

[Bezman01]

Big thanks to everyone for your advice and suggestions.
Decided to opt for celtic_druid's advice and that (fingers crossed) seems to have done the trick.
Nice one!