windows XP-home- errors when creating thumbs.. blame codecs?

[DVD_NDN]

hello everyone

ok so heres the skinny.
I am running windows XP home edition. when I open a folder that contains a certain type of video file, I get errors, and exporer restarts. I believe its dr.wtsn jumping in 'to the rescue'.

I'd like it to stop. unfortunately I seem to be unable to get any data on the video files -as I said, it crashes/restarts - so I couldnt say what the type of file is, if its an extension, if its the codec... nothing.

so, anyone ever hear of this before? any tips? suggestions?
I'm pretty frustrated.

[jimmalenko]

I'm pretty sure that this is a well-known bug with XP, and that one of the Service Packs contains a fix for it. Basically you turn off the thumbnail pictures. Maybe try searching MS's Knowledge Base ?

[Xylob the Destroyer]

I had this problem for the longest time, and had SP1 & SP2 installed...
eventually, I had to reformat my hard drive because of something else
it doesn't do it anymore, BUT, now Windows Explorer will 'crash' when I try to delete or rename large video files...
It is indeed very frustrating!

[jimmalenko]

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_21376370.html
(scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the suggested fixes)


http://www.google.com.au/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=windows+xp+thumbnail+explorer+crash&meta=

[Prot]

Also on topic. When you want to delete a directory containing pictures and/or video files, set the folder option off of thumbnnails. If not, you will get an error message stating it can not delete the thumbnail file since it will be active.

[DVD_NDN]

hey thanks guys.
I've tried changing my folder options so that thumbnails dont show... regardless the event occurs... if I'm correct, windows sortof scans the directory... and when its checked 'plop', the error comes up.

I have tried adding the registry change... SO FAR theres been no problems, but in all truthfullness, I'm all over the place today - day off, much to do.

I will post an update once I've had some time to look at it all.
thank you very much again for your helful suggestions, all of you.

[DVD_NDN]

well, I decided - whats it going to take, but a second. so I checked out my folder, and... no luck 'explorer.exe has generated errors and needs to close. an error log is being created'.

and explorer restarts.
I seem to vagueley remember a website out there that was hardcore tech stuff.. well, to my mind.
I had this problem before, and they suggested it was dr.wtsn.
they had a way to ... modify it, or .. well to do something to it, and I did as they had instructed. this resulted in the errors remaining, however rather than it saying dr.wtsn has found erros, and providing me the option to look at the error log, it has now changed to what I had quoted above - sans error log option.

as said before, I greatly appreciate ALL of your help. and now, now I'm on a mission. if I do find out ANYTHING, I'll post. I'd greatly appreciate all of your input as you are all quite more knowledgeable about such matters..
thanks

[DVD_NDN]

I hope I dont get into any sort of trouble for making three consecutive posts. I assure you this isnt about boosting my post count or anything of the sort...

something occured to me while I lay in bed last night - I can play video files without problems only if accessed through the media players, as opposed to opening the containing folders and double clicking.

So, that made me think... is this truely a codec problem? or is it a problem with windows. as I've said before I dont really know much about the technical side of computers. It seems apperent to myself that the problem is the interaction... the codec and windows.. oil and water...

I want to maintain access to my files - to be able to play them, and play them correctly... but am not prepared to move over to linux as I'm sure I'd completely fall apart trying to understand it (I've heard its pretty complex, lots of command line stuff).

so, does this maybe make any sense to anyone? is it possible that certain codecs may provide acess to many different types of files? or am I limited in my types - stuck with the (possible) conflict between codec and windows (if that is in fact what it is).