VERY FRUSTRATING error message when I select an .avi in Windows Explorer

[sincostan]

OK, within the last couple of days, I've had this error come up TWICE whenever I simply click on an .avi in Windows Explorer. It's soooo frustrating because when I try to play a video, I double click on it, the video plays for a few seconds and the error comes up. I can't click on anything besides the error message, not even the Start Menu. (I have my Winamp title scroll in tool bar, that freezes too, but the audio keeps playing.) More often than not, when I click on "OK," the button stays pressed for 5-10 seconds and nothing happens, then it goes away and the second one comes up. It also sucks because I have a lot of files (around 70 or so, and I have many more to capture) I need to rename and move around into different folders. I can't have this eating up 20-30 seconds of my time every time I friggin' click on a video file.



It's come up before in the past, but then suddenly, it stopped showing up, and I don't remember what I did that made it stop.

I recently installed the new Divx 6.4 and now it's back. (Why would Divx be causing this? If this was a major problem, surely it would be well known...) I use www.statbar.nl, and it doesn't report any significant jump in CPU power used when this happens.

Also, if I try "Submit Report" (submit it to who?), I get a "1" with an OK button behind the error message. (Have to move it see it.) Then....a 5-10 second lag...and the same thing but with a "2," shown below.



Then this comes up right after I click on OK in the "2" error. (And of course, the next error message comes up.)



If anybody could help me get rid of this, I would appreciate it very very much as it's very frustrating to do anything with .avi files on my computer at the moment. Thanks in advance!

[redwudz]

Unless all your AVI files are corrupted, you likely have a major virus/trojan/adware infestation. You could boot in safe mode and try Trend Micros online scan: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ or run HijackThis: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html If that fails, consider reinstalling Windows.

[Krispy Kritter]

You can also try using codec sniper to search for and remove bad/corrupt codecs. You could also remove and reinstall Divx.

[JohnnyMalaria]

OK, within the last couple of days, I've had this error come up TWICE whenever I simply click on an .avi in Windows Explorer.

Does this happen with *any* AVI or only ones of a certain format?

When you click on an AVI in Windows Explorer, the OS looks at the file to see what format it is and then, using the right codec, creates a preview/thumbnail.

If the codec has a bug in it, you'll get the error....

[tdan]

Those shots do *not* look like real Windows OS error dialogs. I suspect you have some sort of malware.

[mikeneron]

Hey man, I am getting the exact same thing and tried looking for answers today. Funny that you posted this today. This has been going on for me for awhile now and usually I get that thing popping up 4 times when I click on an AVI file...VERY ANNOYING indeed. Now it doesn't do this for all AVI files though, just some.

I just converted an mpg to avi last night using SUPER and it does it for that file.

I am running a full system scan right now with the free version of AVG, but nothing found yet.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Now it doesn't do this for all AVI files though, just some.

Then it is almost certainly a specific codec problem.

What format are the troublesome AVI files?

[mikeneron]

Just an update. After uninstalling an old version of Norton Antivirus and installing the free version of AVG, this issue seems to have gone away. Knock on wood

[mikeneron]

I spoke too soon. I downloaded some .wmv files today and it's doing the same thing on them now. Also an .avi file as well since my last post. GRRRRR

[GTRBudda]

If it's not a virus or the like, it sounds like it could be this:

http://www.virtualdub.org/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=139#body

[Scorpion King]

Run HiJackthis.exe and post or PM me the report. You can google to find the program.

[sincostan]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'll go through and try every single suggestion as I type this post.

Well, my .AVI files aren't corrupted because I can play them and open them in VirtualDub. I haven't tried to reboot in safe mode yet, but I did download HijackThis. I ran it, but I'll post the log report last since it's the last suggestion I received. Reinstalling Windows seems like a drastic measure at this point. I'll see what the other suggestions do first and then think about it. (I've got a lot of installed software and hardware and reinstalling everything would be a pain in the ass.)

I tried codec sniper and when I ran it, it gave me an error message in German and then no codecs listed after I dismissed the error.

Well...uninstalling the Divx codec didn't work. It still gave me an error message without the codec installed on my computer. Reinstalling Divx..... WORKED! SWEET! I'm no longer getting that error! And the weird thing is that the videos I was selecting are in Xvid.

Yeah, these windows do look kind of weird. I run a daily system scan using AVG Free edition and I never go to any shady sites (pr0n, sites that host direct downloads of illegal content, etc...) that would infect my system with anything nasty. So, it must have been something generated by Divx.

Heh, that link you gave me does sort of sound like the problem I was having. Apparently, Divx did not install itself correctly.

I have the HijackThis report, but since my problem's fixed, I guess there's no need to post it.

Thank you for your help, everybody, I appreciate it very very much! (I thought I was going to go crazy trying to do anything with my .avi files....) Thanks again!

[MysticE]

... these windows do look kind of weird. I run a daily system scan using AVG Free edition

Some choice words from PC World.

In our performance tests, AVG Free Edition ranked second to last. (Alwil Software's free Avast Home Edition ranked last.) While AVG Free Edition caught nearly 100 percent of bots and zombies in our collection of zoo malware, it caught a disappointing 65 percent of Trojan horses. It ranked second-to-last in our heuristics tests--detecting just 11 percent of worms and 8 percent of backdoor programs using one-month-old virus data.

Upshot: Limited features and poor performance make AVG Free Edition an inferior choice even among the free antivirus products.

[Bjs]

MysticE ... dont believe squat as to what PC World say's ... there a commercial interest and misleading at time's ... I refuse to buy into their crap review's unless one dose there own review under more than one test case sample .

Suggest you switch to the more informed pc user mag instead .

====================

Let's run through a few idea's :

Hijackthis is downloadable from : http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php

Scan pc , disable all non-essential running task's in background ... quicktime , itune's , printer utilities , messenger , ect ... allow it to fix , and reboot pc .

Directshow tool from : http://paul.glagla.free.fr/filmerit_en.htm

Read the web page ... most issue's relate to codec all-in-one package's fouling the system up .
Reboot if problems found and repaired , by any tool .

Avgfree

Install , update , scan ... remmember to empty the virus vault ... then reboot pc .
If any are left in the virus vault ... delete them from here , or denial of nett services may occur .
Some trojan's will require system restore to be disabled to remove them and their corresponding backup's .

Ad-aware se

Install , update , scan , if problem's found let it guaranteen them , then delete the backup , and reboot pc .

Reboot pc after each process .

---------------------------------------

Thumbnail preview :

Try , windows explorer , tools , folder options , view tab , check "do not cache thumbnails" , apply , ok .

Dose the same problem appear when considering the two possibilities ?

A: Playing avi while windows explorer is displaying thumbnails
B: Dose the same happen , if window's explorer is not open and avi is played using the default player .

---------------------------------------

Get rid of that divx 6+ and reboot the system ... it's been reported with causing issue's .

--------------------------------------

What other hardware is connected to pc ?

KB908531 - issue's with nvidia
KB912919 - odd issue with user's thumbnails disappearing ... someone else asked about this problem before .

Hp printer / nvidia info :

------------------------------

Resolution 1.

HEWLETT-PACKARD’s Share-to-Web software

1.

The Shell fix includes a white list - VERCLSID.EXE will not scan any extension that appears on this list, so adding the HP shell extension fixes the problem.

The following REG file can be applied to problem systems and will correct the problem permanently:

To manually enter the registry entries on a problem machine:

a. Log on to the machine with an account with administrator privileges
b. Goto Start ->Run
c. Type Regedit and press enter.
d. Navigate to
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\She ll Extensions\Cached
e. Right Click and Select New -> DWORD Value with and enter the following:

For Windows 2000, enter the following…
{A4DF5659-0801-4A60-9607-1C48695EFDA9} {000214E6-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}

For Windows XP or 2003, enter the following…
{A4DF5659-0801-4A60-9607-1C48695EFDA9} {000214E6-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} 0×401

f. Set the Data of this value to 1
g. Close the Registry editor
h. Reboot the computer

Resolution 2.

nVidia shell extension GUIDs

The following REG file can be applied to problem systems and will correct the problem permanently:

To manually enter the registry entries on a problem machine:

a. Log on to the machine with an account with administrator privileges
b. Goto Start ->Run
c. Type Regedit and press enter.
d. Navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\She ll Extensions\Cached
e. Right Click and Select New -> DWORD Value with and enter the following:

For Windows 2000, enter the following…

{1e9b04fb-f9e5-4718-997b-b8da88302a47} {000214e8-0000-0000-c000-000000000046}
{1e9b04fb-f9e5-4718-997b-b8da88302a48} {000214e8-0000-0000-c000-000000000046}
{1cdb2949-8f65-4355-8456-263e7c208a5d} {000214e6-0000-0000-c000-000000000046}

For Windows XP or 2003 enter the following…

{1e9b04fb-f9e5-4718-997b-b8da88302a47} {000214e8-0000-0000-c000-000000000046} 0×401
{1e9b04fb-f9e5-4718-997b-b8da88302a48} {000214e8-0000-0000-c000-000000000046} 0×401
{1cdb2949-8f65-4355-8456-263e7c208a5d} {000214e6-0000-0000-c000-000000000046} 0×401

f. Set the Data of each of these values to 1
g. Close the Registry editor
h. Reboot the computer

Resolution 3.

VERCLSID.EXE process flagged by Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall

Note: There has been only one known report of this issue.

Kerio Personal Firewall Users can configure Kerio to allow VERCLSID.EXE to execute without prompting

The App Compat team is currently working with Kerio to request that they not flag VERCLSID.EXE.

================================================== ======
Other problem GUIDs recently found:
================================================== ======

Roxio DragToDisc / Adaptec DirectCD Shell Extension
Windows XP / 2003
{5e44e225-a408-11cf-b581-008029601108} {000214e8-0000-0000-c000-000000000046} 0×401
Windows 2000:
{5e44e225-a408-11cf-b581-008029601108} {000214e8-0000-0000-c000-000000000046}

====================

Annoying box's from install's might need http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301 (install cleanup tool)
Run it , and reboot pc .

I would also suggest going through all the codec package's and program's installed since the event appeared as it would point to the culprit causing the issue with the system's registry .

Say for instance ... issue appeared only after the install of the divx6.4 codec package ... a good indication of crapware causing the problem's .

[handyguy]

I used to get something like that. It happens because explorer tries to preview open an AVI format that it doesn't know. The solution was to just unable the explorer preview.

[MysticE]

MysticE ... dont believe squat as to what PC World say's ... there a commercial interest and misleading at time's ... I refuse to buy into their crap review's unless one dose there own review under more than one test case sample .

Suggest you switch to the more informed pc user mag instead ...

Really? Checking some of the publication links from AV-Test.org's site I find this tidbit:

The Final Scores
If we left spyware/adware removal out of the mix and focused only on the scanner's ability to detect traditional virus threats, out of a possible 125.6 points, AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic scored 94, AVAST 4 Home Edition scored 89, and AVG Free Edition scored 66. However, when we included adware/spyware removal in the judging, the results were dismal, with AVAST scoring highest at 66 points, AntiVir following at 58, and AVG with only 30.

Or from Neil J. Rubenking:

None of the free programs offers the labs-certified virus removal of our reigning Editors' Choices, and tech-support options are extremely limited. But they'll all do a decent job of protecting your system against viruses.

If the poster is really concerned about infections, he'd be better served with something other than AVG Free.

[handyguy]

“Windows XP Explorer has a 'feature' to provide a preview in the Details box on the left of the file you have selected, if it’s supported. Image files, HTML pages, video clips, MP3s, etc are all previewed (even with the folder view open).
If you have a large movie clip and it either is corrupt (ie. no index from a partial download) or it uses an unsupported codec, then Explorer tries to load the whole file. This can slow your computer a lot and prevent deleting/renaming/moving/etc the file until it’s finished.
Simply do the following steps:
1) Open a command window (Start->Run, type in 'cmd' hit enter)
2) To remove image preview, type and hit enter
regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll
3) To readd image preview, type and hit enter
regsvr32 shimgvw.dll
4) To remove media preview, type and hit enter
regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll
5) To readd media preview, type and hit enter
regsvr32 shmedia.dll


The Credit goes to http://www.tweakxp.com/tweak2123.aspx”

[mikeneron]

That's too funny, I was just looking at that exact link yesterday, but it wasn't doing it then. After a reboot the problem came back, so I turned the preview off and now it seems OK. That still doesn't mean that I don't have a corrupt codec or something though, not sure what to do about that. I guess I could just uninstall the codecs and then reinstall them. Thanks for all the help.

[Bjs]

MysticE ... in the case of "dont judge a book by it's cover" ... in the case of this lot I hold first judgment ... I have yet to see any true "independent" project's being run from any "technical institute" and / or university that is entirely independent of outside influence ... not bloody one ...

Pc user and apc magazine are far better , and do admit to mistake's when made ... where as pc world is a complete joke .

In a truly independent test I ran not so long ago on a clients pc , avgfree found 600+ trojan's , plus 200+ virus's ... due to my knowledge and how to use hijackthis in conjunction with avgfree ... the system has a clean bill of health , and only one word document was lost due to having been corrupted ... and the client is still happy to this day ... I doubt if these so called nob's could have figured out how I managed to do this without a clean reinstall of xp ... loser's .

============

As for the thumbnail problem , this was fixed in sp2 ... the problem was originally caused by messenger ... if you dont use messenger or need it , use xpantispy to sod it out of the pc .